A 30-year-old netizen recently consulted on the platform for pulmonary nodules, and also wrote a sentence in his chest CT report: aortic calcification. After consulting about pulmonary nodules, he asked by the way, why did he have aortic calcification at such a young age? Could it be a typo in the report? Looking at his electronic images, this young man not only has aortic calcification, but also has extensive calcification areas. In fact, it is not uncommon for young people to have vascular calcification in clinical practice, and the incidence has gradually increased in recent years.
“Aortic calcification” refers to calcified plaques on the aortic wall. This plaque is relatively hard, dense, and looks like a stone. It appears brighter on chest X-rays and CT scans. development. Aortic calcification is a manifestation of human atherosclerosis and one of the signs of human aging. About 20% of people over 60 years old will have different degrees of aortic calcification. Not just the aorta, but all arteries in the body can calcify after hardening. For example, the most common coronary atherosclerosis, if the coronary artery stenosis to a certain extent, will cause myocardial insufficiency, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction.
Blood vessels are an extremely important part of human organs. Arteries, veins, and capillaries in the human body, all of which add up to a total of about 250 trillion, form a huge and complex capillary network in the human body. . The total length adds up to more than 100,000 kilometers. If they are all connected end to end, they can even circle the earth’s equator twice and a half. All the tissues and organs of the human body need blood in the blood vessels to supply nutrients. Once the blood vessels become diseased, it may be accompanied by organ function damage. The most common ones are cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, carotid artery Occlusion, pulmonary embolism, heart valve disease, lower extremity thrombosis, etc.
It is no exaggeration to say that the lifespan of a person’s blood vessels determines the lifespan of that person. Protecting blood vessels means prolonging lifespan.
How to better protect blood vessels in daily life?
Quit smoking and drinking
Toxic substances in cigarettes enter the pulmonary circulation with breathing and are transported to various parts of the body with the blood. This also causes damage to blood vessels in many parts of the body. These substances damage vascular endothelial cells, increase the ability of platelets to adhere to the intima, cause vasospasm, and accelerate vascular hardening. The same is true of drinking alcohol. The intermediate metabolite of ethanol, acetaldehyde, has strong lipid peroxidation and toxicity, which can damage the vascular endothelial cell membrane system, promote the occurrence of atherosclerosis, weaken the elasticity of hardened cerebral blood vessels, and narrow the lumen. It can be seen that in order to protect blood vessels, you must stay away from tobacco and alcohol, including second-hand smoke.
Exercise properly
The disadvantage of not exercising is not only obesity, but the harm of inactivity to the body is even greater than the harm of smoking and drinking. If you do not exercise for a long time, the calorie consumption will naturally decrease, and the human body’s demand for the workload of the heart will decrease accordingly, the blood circulation will slow down, and the heart function will decrease. The incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, and stroke is increased. Therefore, persistent exercise is a necessary condition for protecting blood vessels. The only thing that can directly and significantly increase the compliance of blood vessels is aerobic exercise.
Healthy Eating
Overeating and eating hasai are extremely detrimental to blood vessels, and a large amount of fat in food will be deposited in blood vessels to accelerate atherosclerosis. The Mediterranean diet is currently recognized as a healthy eating pattern, that is, a dietary pattern dominated by plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, fish, whole grains, beans and olive oil. In short, try to eat a light diet, low-salt and low-fat diet in daily life, increase the community of coarse grains, increase the intake of dairy products, vegetables and fruits, and reduce the intake of red meat.
Healthy Routine
A good sleep pattern can make various functions of the body work normally, without causing confusion in the body’s metabolism. Regular work and rest, not staying up late, are also important factors to protect blood vessels.