Chapter 6 - Exercise: Use It Or Lose ItWant More Info? Search HERE
system is considered a very important component of our immunesystems. But the lymphatic system has no separate pump of its own to keep the fluid circulating like the circulatory system has a heart to pump our blood. The only way that the fluid can be circulated through the lymphatic system is with exercise, the contracting and relaxing of our muscles which in turn pushes the fluid along its course. Circulating our blood is not as easy as we might assume either.You might think that just getting the heart rate up would be enough to keep the blood circulating at optimum levels but that’s actually only half of the picture. The heart pumps out high oxygen-content, red blood through the arteries quite well. But once the blood is squeezed through the tiny capillaries at the ends of the arteries and arterioles, it has lost a lot of the heart’s pressure and thus its ability to continue through the system. So the veins, the blood vessels that carry high carbon dioxide-content, purple blood back to the heart, have anti-back-flow valves along their entire length that keep the blood from fl owing backward against the intended fl ow. These valves keep the blood fl owing in one direction, back toward the heart. However, the pumping action of the heart is still poorly felt in the veins. Fortunately for us, the blood can be squeezed through the veins just like we squeeze toothpaste through a tube. Every time we tighten a muscle, the veins within that muscle are squeezed. When the veins are squeezed, because of the anti-back-flow valves, the blood can only go in one direction – toward the heart. The value of this muscle-assisted pumping action on the blood fl ow can’t be overstated! Congestive heart failure is a prime example of this process not working as it should. The heart is like any other muscle. It even takes the, “use it or lose it,” concept one step further and actually works against us. We know that when we don’t use a muscle, it shrinks – atrophies. Conversely, when we work a muscle very hard, it grows bigger. When we’re inactive, we don’t have the benefit of the pumping action of the muscles throughout our bodies to get the blood back to the heart through the veins. Therefore, the heart has to
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