Thread by @zaidkdahhaj

The Endothelium: How to keep your heart strong and avoid a heart attack

(One person dies every 34 seconds in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease)

THREAD

A blood vessel is made of 3 layers:

1. Endothelium

2. Smooth muscle cells

3. Adventitia

This thread covers the first since it’s the most crucial part of blood vessel health

What does your endothelium do?

The endothelial layer is thin, yet very active and responsible for:

• making hormones
• allowing passage for chemicals
• maintaining blood vessel function
• creating nitric oxide
• preventing blood clots
• relaxing the arteries
•… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

What causes damage to it?

All the classic risk factors:

1. Smoking
2. Chronically elevated blood sugar
3. Obesity
4. High blood pressure
5. Oxidized LDL
6. Consumption of vegetable oil
7. Chronic sleep deprivation
8. Elevated homocystine levels
9. Elevated hs-CRP particles… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

ENDOTHELIAL DYSFUNCTION

The root cause of any cardiovascular event is endothelial dysfunction

It takes decades to go from early stage damage to an advanced stage

That’s why your lifestyle is important

NITRIC OXIDE (NO)

I’ve covered this in the past

Nitric oxide is extremely important to maintain blood vessel function

NO acts upon the smooth muscle, creating a relaxation effect on the artery through vasodilation

Read more below

https://twitter.com/zaidkdahhaj/status/1603802900999782401

PLATELET AGGREGATION

When the blood vessel is damaged from the above risk factors..

Platelets clump together and go to the sight of injury to repair damage

If that process remains chaotic over time, more inflammatory cells and cytokines add insult to injury

Guess what… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

REDUCTION OF NITRIC OXIDE

All risk factors which cause damage to the endothelium reduce NO

This reduces vasodilation which increases pro-atherosclerotic activity

More specifically:

• Endothelin-1
• Thromboxane

We must raise NO by any means

Assessing endothelial function

This involves expert help, but it’s valuable for those who want to go deeper

Cue non-invasive assessments of vascular health

1. Flow-mediated dilatation (measures nitric oxide function)

2. Pulse wave analysis (reveals the stiffness of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

MICRO-VESSELS

These take up a larger surface area than the large vessels

Most dysfunction is going to occur with them rather than the latter

One technique to asses function:

Laser doppler imaging

Useful to determine microvascular endothelium health

Regardless of technical details

You must build your foundation

• Sleep
• Hydration
• Nutrition
• Movement/Training
• Supplementation

I’ll help you do this and set you up with everything you need for LIFE

Let’s talk: zaidkdahhaj.com/coaching

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