Increase Your Flexibility and Increase the Health of Arteries

Want to find out how hardened your arteries are? Well, if you're over 40, a new study has found a simple technique - sit with your back against the wall with your legs stretched out in front of you. Bend forward at the waist, reaching out with your arms and try to get your fingers past your toes.

Researchers have found that how flexible you are in your trunk is correlated to how stiff your arteries are. If you're getting your fingers past your toes you're probably in good shape, where as if you're not even touching your toes, your arteries maybe stiffened.

This is a low-tech, home version of the test, but the study, done in association with the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo; Waseda University in Saitama, Japan; and the University of North Texas Health Science Centre, in Fort Worth, used scientific measurement and analysis. But nonetheless, the take-home information is quite simple - after age 40 your overall flexibility is strongly correlated to the hardness of your arteries. The correlation was not found to occur in groups of younger study participants.


Healthy arteries are elastic and flexible, but science has found that arterial stiffness increases with age, increasing blood pressure and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. While the authors of the study are not sure why arterial stiffness would be related to body flexibility, they have a few hypotheses.

Previous studies have determined that those who engage in physical fitness activities can delay the onset of arterial stiffness. One possible explanation for this could be cause and effect - stretching to increase flexibility of muscles also increases the flexibility of arteries. The current study also found the arterial flexibility is independent of muscle strength and cardiovascular health. Nutritionist Byron Richards had this to say: "It is likely that when you do stretching exercise you turn on genes that enhance flexibility in general. Stretching helps release substance P from nerve endings, an inflammatory nerve signal that is reflective of wear and tear, internal excess stress feelings, and general muscle stiffness (especially in the shoulders)."

Says Dr. Yamamoto, lead researcher of the study "[...] these findings suggest a possibility that improving flexibility induced by the stretching exercise may be capable of modifying age-related arterial stiffening in middle-aged and older adults. We believe that flexibility exercise, such as stretching, yoga and Pilates, should be integrated as a new recommendation into the known cardiovascular benefits of regular exercise."

But before we start implying a causal relationship, there may be other possible explanations. It could be that other factors that affect the flexibility of the body also affect the flexibility of the arteries. These could include nutritional considerations such as antioxidant profile or protein utilization for collagen and elastin, for example. Further research is needed to determine the nature of the relationship before we all run out to join yoga classes. However, you can use this test at home to see if there is a need for concern.