Letting the blood vessels breathe

When your blood vessels constrict, you’re in for a breathtaking surprise. There is no pun to it – blocked blood vessels will take the breath out of you and yes, you’ll stop breathing.

Blood vessels are part of the vascular or circulatory system and the electrical system of the body.  By its very name, these vessels carry blood throughout the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients while taking away tissue wastes. Blood is circulated in three kinds of vessels. Something like the transport mode where we ride a bus when traveling by land, a ship when by sea or an airplane when by air.

In the human body’s circulatory system, blood is transported in three modes. Through the arteries where blood vessels carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the rest of the body, through veins where blood vessels carry blood from the body to the heart and through the capillaries or tiny blood vessels between arteries and veins that distribute oxygen-rich blood to the body. Blood moves through the circulatory system as a result of being pumped out by the heart.

It is the heart’s internal electrical conduction system that causes the heart to pump blood. Each beat of your heart is set in motion by an electrical signal from within the heart muscle. The heart’s electrical system controls all the events when your heart pumps blood.

For as long as we wake up each day, we can walk and relish the air around us, little do we care about what is going on with our circulatory system. Some people like to punish their blood vessels or deliberately curtail the efficient circulation of their blood vessels by the kind of lifestyle they lead.

Smoking, stress in jobs, loud music and the food we eat can sometimes cause blood vessels to constrict. You don’t have to be with a disease to find your blood vessels unnecessarily constricted or blocked. You only have to expose yourself to bad movies, crazy television shows, play on internet games, eat high-cholesterol laden food and be with ungodly company to find your blood vessels constrict on its own. Then when these are constricted, the inevitable happens, blood to internal organs are blocked and when internal organs such as the heart, lungs and brain ran out of oxygen, you could end up where you are not supposed to be ending up. Or where you hate to end up — “It is finished” — to quote the last of the seven last words.

Other than that, constricted blood vessels especially capillaries on the dermis can make your skin rough and lose its elasticity – and you, don’t like that either.

Doing the deer.

Chemicals called bioflavonoids have been found to free up constricted blood vessels, improve blood circulation and enhance skin complexion. Derived from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, bioflavonoids were apparently used by North American Indians for generations because of its healing properties. Indians use the bark, usually in the form of water extract for a variety of disorders. Indians then called this pine tree, “Annedda” or tree of life.

Strangely it was the deer that led the Indians to discover the healing properties of the Annedda. These native Americans routinely ate deer as their primary source of nutrition when confronted with a scarcity of meat. So they started asking themselves where the deer got its strength.

They discovered that deer stripped away pine tree bark and were able to derive life-giving nutrients from its organic composition. It was also observed that devastating diseases such as scurvy did not afflict those who ate the bark, leaves or needles of the pine tree.

This pine tree though does not grow anywhere. A large forest of this maritime pine is grown in the coastal region of southwest France.

Pine tree bark in a gel.

You don’t have to be a deer or an Indian to enjoy the Annedda’s healing properties. Water extract from the Annedda bark is available in a gel capsule called Pycnogenol. Frank Schönlau, Ph. D. said that Pycnogenol improves circulation and helps keep blood cells slippery so that these don’t cause blood clots that result in heart attacks. Director of scientific communications of Horphag Research Ltd. based in London, Schönlau said the gel strengthens blood vessel walls and protects the linings of blood vessels. It also relaxes the blood vessels, hence improving circulation and helping to normalize blood pressure.

Schönlau, who was in Cebu for a demonstration to explain the healing properties of Pycnogenol said that Annedda pine tree water extract protects against dangerous molecules known as radicals which speed up the aging process that sets the stage for heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

More than these, Pycnogenol is a skin vitamin because efficient blood circulation through the capillaries of the skin helps the skin to be smooth and youthfully flexible while counteracting abnormal skin pigmentation.

Pycnogenol can be taken in a capsule once a day or can be mixed in drinks and shakes. What is vital in taking a health supplement like Pycnogenol is leading an undefiled lifestyle. The Annedda bark was an effective health and healing extract for deers and native North American Indians because they led an undefiled life. They were not into alcoholism, drugs and were not exposed to violent visuals or harsh sounds and other evil ways of the modern world. 

Our blood vessels never complain until it feels that with our abusive ways it must stop from circulating. Transport modes don’t stop running until there is something wrong with the engines. Pycnogenol may improve the circulation of the vascular system and stop a disease from getting worse, but it needs self-will to lead an undefiled life.

Because blood vessels are so small, it maybe difficult for us to notice or imagine that the way we live may cause these to have trauma, inflammation, infection or damage leading to narrowing or blockage. By the time the blood vessels are out of breath, it may be too late.