The Relationship of Varicose Veins And Alcohol
Varicose veins can be caused by a lot of factors. Being a circulatory condition, it is also basically caused by risk factors that normally affect blood circulation. One of these factors is alcohol. Varicose veins and alcohol consumption has a relation that is more often overlooked.
Basics Of Circulation And Varicose Veins
To fully understand the relationship of varicose veins and alcohol, you should first know the basics of your circulatory system.
Your circulatory system consists of your heart, veins, valves and arteries. Basically, your blood that is pumped from your heart travels through your veins and arteries. Your blood circulates, meaning it has to go back up to your heart.
When you think about it, no pump is present on your feet to push blood up your legs and to counter the force of gravity. Your blood is driven out of your leg by muscle contraction of your calves. When your muscle contracts it squeezes your veins and pushes your blood back up to your heart.
Your blood is propelled up via a sequence of one-way valves. These valves prevent back flow of your blood by opening towards the direction of your heart and immediately closing when there is counter flow of blood due to gravity.
In a healthy leg, your vein valves also protect your leg veins from being swollen and bloated from pressure build up. You get varicose veins when your leg vein valves are damaged, or become aged. When this happens, they allow back flow of blood to your feet. In consequence, you get a pressure build up in your veins causing vein enlargement. This process is called venous reflux, which caused varicose veins.
Alcohol And Circulation
When you intake alcohol, your heart beats faster than its usual rate. This induces an increase in blood flow to your system, meaning more blood travels through your veins resulting to high blood pressure. Having more blood volume circulating would definitely have an effect on your valves, making it harder to push blood back up to your heart.
You also get liver problems with alcohol intake. When you get liver problems, you would also get circulatory problems, because your liver is the one responsible for filtering your blood.
Getting The Sum: Varicose Veins And Alcohol
With the said explanations above, the relation of varicose veins and alcohol would be quite obvious. When you already have varicose veins and alcohol consumption is a vice, you would make your vein problem worse as it is.
When you drink alcohol, you get an increase in blood pressure, making it harder for your valves to push blood up, which results to weakening of your valves. When this happens, they malfunction causing blood pool up in your veins then resulting to varicose veins.
In relation to liver problems, when you take too much alcohol your liver gets damaged. When this happens, your blood is not thoroughly filtered, making it full of toxins and unwanted material that make it more viscous.
When blood is more viscous, it has a harder time flowing through your veins. When this happens, your valves would also have a hard time propelling your blood up to your heart. Which can result to blood pool up and then varicose veins.
So now you know the relationship of varicose veins and alcohol, you put into mind your alcohol consumption. If you are prone to other risk factors for varicose veins, then you should abstain from alcohol consumption.
