Matters of the heart: All This Ricky Business…

What does your posture and habits have to do with the cardio-vascular disease in general, and high blood pressure in particular?

Quite a lot as it turns out.

Supposedly cardio-vascular disease (including high blood pressure) is caused by plaque in the arteries, right?
And supposedly plaque formation is much dependent on the diet we eat, correct?

Most people are very (very-very) surprised to learn that plaque doesn’t actually accumulate everywhere in the arteries.
Instead, there are certain artery locations that are more prone to plaque than others. That fact alone can indicate that diet (even though it is of utmost importance) is not the only culprit in plaque formation.

So what other crucial information are we missing?

Turns out, that plaque accumulates in areas of the most complex blood flow – abdominal aorta, iliacs, coronaries, femorals, carotids, and cerebrals – to name just a few. It also turns out that these very areas have the most complex blood vessel geometry.

I know it is hard to wrap your brain around this, so let’s take a scenic route.

Picture plumbing.

Gunk doesn’t accumulate where the pipes run straight.

What about areas where pipes join, branch, or loop?

You can imagine how easily gunk particles can get caught in those complex pipe configurations.

Enter your body: whether you like it or not, there are some pretty complex blood vessel systems in your body. Not much you can do about that.

But here is something you can do lots about: your daily sitting habits.

Guess what?

Sitting makes your blood vessel geometry even more complex.
Yes, the loops and branches of blood vessels are there no matter what, but bending the knees, flexing the hips, rounding the spine, and jutting the head forward will add more bends to your blood vessel system, leading to more plaque location formation, leading to strain on your CV system, etc, etc, etc.

Are you still sitting?

More on heart pipes next week! Till then, go for a walk:)