Tuesday 23 February 2010

Things that make you go pink.

Strenuous exercise. Alcohol. High-dose Niacin. All of these things make you go pink. All of these things are also good for your heart & circulation. As I mentioned in Red, red wine and very sharp pointy things, one glass of red wine significantly lowered my blood pressure in less than 10 minutes, probably by making my arteries dilate (which made me go pink) and by reducing my mental stress which lowered my stress hormone levels.

According to JBS2 guidelines (which I don't fully agree with), CVD risk factor increases with increasing blood pressure. It also increases with increasing TC:HDL ratio. What increases HDL? Things that make you go pink. What we now need is a study showing the effects of blushing on the risk factors for CVD!

2 comments:

Future Primitive said...

Isn't the reduction in BP from drinking an alcoholic beverage just a temporary, acute effect? I'm under the impression that for many people, regular alcohol consumption tends to somewhat raise BP overall.

Nigel Kinbrum said...

Hi Future Primitive.

I think so, but that's what I needed!

As for regular alcohol consumption, the graph in my other post shows that CHD mortality is lower at 5 drinks/day than at zero/day which hints that BP isn't a big issue at that intake, as CHD mortality increases as BP increases.

Nige.