Do you offer suffer from cold hands, fingers, feet, and toes, even when it's not that cold outside? Do your fingers and toes turn reddish or even purplish or white? Do you have a cold nose, or cold ears? Do you often have tingling sensations or numbness in your extremities, and do your ankles, knees or knuckles get swollen sometimes?
Improving your blood circulation may provide at least part of the solution to these annoying health problems. Blood serves a number of different purposes — first, blood provides oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body. Second, your blood helps to balance and regulate your body temperature and provides warmth to your fingers, toes (and nose.) Proper blood circulation also ensures that excess fluid buildup is removed that otherwise might result in edema or swelling.
Before using any of the remedies for cold hands and feet and poor circulation that we're about to discuss, be sure to see your health care professional and at a minimum, have your blood pressure checked out. Vasodilating substances, which widen the blood vessels, will provide increased blood circulation — but they may also lower your blood pressure, sometimes even reducing it to dangerously low levels.
If you are currently on any blood pressure lowering medication (anti-hypertensives or high blood pressure meds), you will need to ensure that there will be no harmful medication interactions — monitoring your own blood pressure at home is also a good idea. Reasonably accurate home blood pressure monitors can be obtained for a relatively low price.
Also, as always, make sure your diet is full of fruits and vegetables (various vitamins and minerals in these foods also helps to maintain healthy blood circulation) and get plenty of physical exercise. These common-sense health-promoting steps will help get the blood "moving", keeping you warm as you get fit.
Supplements and herbs for better circulation
Cayenne is traditionally known as a warming agent — and when the blood vessels are “warmed”, they dilate or open up. Most people have witnessed what happens to a person’s face when they have too much cayenne pepper! Very red, right? Too much of any chili pepper is obviously not recommended (some people might even experience chemical burns from the hottest peppers around), but adding a pinch of cayenne to your meals can help warm you gently.
Garlic [1] and onions [2] are also great for the blood circulation. Personally, I love garlic and onions and add them to almost every meal! Raw onions and garlic are best as they contain greater amounts of allicin, the substance which appears to be most important for improving circulation. But, we all know why they are most often cooked! The allicins also function as a diuretic — meaning that they increase the amount of fluids that are excreted from the body. A natural diuretic can help bring down the swelling that is often a sign of poor circulation.
Rosemary [3] is another great herb to use to increase the blood circulation. Fresh rosemary is best, but the dried herb can be used as well. Rosemary is great with lamb and poultry, and rosemary is also a pretty great tea ingredient.
Other herbs and spices that you can add to food that will increase your circulation are parsley and ginger [2]. Ginger acts as a warming agent but is gentler than cayenne pepper. Many people avoid caffeine and use ginger as a morning “wake-up” beverage. As an added feature, ginger can help soothe and settle an upset stomach and fight nausea.
Foods rich in magnesium (such as artichokes, barley, oats, nuts, beans, pumpkin seeds, spinach, other leafy greens, and tomatoes) can help you improve circulation and maintain a good blood pressure. Magnesium also calms and soothes the mind. And, because modern agricultural practices have depleted magnesium from the soil, it is possible that many people are magnesium deficient and don’t know it! [4]
Other Natural Substances to Improve Blood Circulation
Niacin is a B vitamin (B3) that can dilate the blood vessels and improve blood flow. 5 Niacin is also known to help promote lower cholesterol levels. Be sure to use the “Flush-free” formula — the main side effect of niacin is an unpleasant red facial flush. [6]
Ginkgo biloba is a well-known herb that is useful in treating problems of poor blood circulation. The ginkgo tree is one of most ancient trees and its leaves have been used in traditional remedies for centuries. Gingko biloba is also one of the best-studied herbs. It was studied for its effects on a condition called intermittent claudication [7], where poor circulation in the feet leads to pain while walking. Gingko biloba was shown in this study to be an effective treatment to increase the blood circulation. [8, 9]
Hawthorne (Crataegus) has also been used for centuries to treat poor circulation and heart problems. Hawthorne berries and leaves contain anti-oxidants and quercitin, a substance that has been shown to minimize the release of histamines. Hawthorne can be used to increase circulation and to lower your blood pressure. Hawthorne should be used while under the care of an experienced health professional, because interactions between hawthorne and other heart medications such as blood thinners (anti-coagulants, high blood pressure medications, and anti-arrhythmic agents) can occur.[2, 9, 10]