Understanding Your Body
The Lifeline of Our Body, the Blood Vessels. Blood plays a crucial role in carrying oxygen throughout the body, replenishing necessary nutrients, and removing waste products. Therefore, proper blood circulation is essential for the health of the cells that make up our body.

However, if blood flow is impeded for some reason, it can lead to serious diseases that can degrade the quality of life. In particular, if the blood vessels supplying nutrients to the heart or cerebrovascular vessels are damaged, it can lead to sudden death.

As such, blood vessels, the vital lifeline that sustain our lives. Blood vessels are known to rarely send out warning signals, so it is important to stay vigilant and take preventive measures. Blood vessels can be broadly categorized into arteries, veins, and capillaries.

Among these, arteries are the blood vessels that flow from the heart through the lungs and help oxygen-enriched blood travel throughout the body. Arteries have thicker walls than veins in order to withstand the pressure forced out from the heart. Upon closer examination, the vessel walls comprise three layers: the intima, media, and adventitia.

The intima has a smooth surface that allows blood to flow smoothly, while the media is the thickest muscular layer, offering great elasticity. In arteries, which have thick walls, the media layer is particularly well-developed, enabling them to withstand the high pressure generated by the heart's pumping action.

The adventitia is the most robust layer, made up of connective tissues, that supports and protects the blood vessels. Arteries begin at the heart and extend throughout the body, branching into medium-sized arteries, small-sized arteries, arterioles, and capillaries.

Among these, capillaries are the thinnest blood vessels and connect directly to cells, supplying oxygen and nutrients and collecting carbon dioxide and waste products. Spread like a web throughout the body, capillaries consist of only a single layer of endothelial cells to facilitate efficient exchange of substances between blood vessels and cells.

These capillaries, of which there are about 10 billion in our body, eventually converge into veins. Veins are blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart, and like arteries, their walls are also composed of three layers. Compared to arteries, veins have a thinner media layer, allowing them to expand more easily and store blood.

Also, venous blood flows slower than arterial blood and is propelled by the surrounding muscles' movements. In particular, unlike arteries, veins have valves to prevent venous blood from flowing backward. When a problem arises in the blood vessels, the pathway for blood circulation,

it leads to blood circulation disorders, causing symptoms such as ischemia, bleeding, and anemia. When harmful cholesterol builds up in the arteries, the vessel walls lose elasticity and become hardened, which is a condition known as atherosclerosis. Especially, coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle may narrow with cholesterol accumulation,

resulting in conditions such as angina or myocardial infarction. Additionally, arteriosclerosis can prevent the arterial walls from expanding well when the heart contracts, transmitting the pressure directly to the blood vessels, a condition commonly known as hypertension.

This excessive increase in blood pressure eventually puts great pressure on capillaries as well. Since capillaries are one-layered and very thin, they can easily burst under high pressure. When capillaries rupture in the brain, it results in a brain hemorrhage.

Blood vessels typically only give warning signals when more than 50% are obstructed. Accompanying symptoms vary, including headaches, sexual dysfunction, numbness in the hands and feet, and stiff shoulders. Once these symptoms appear, restoring blood vessels to their original state is difficult, 

so it is crucial to keep blood vessels healthy in daily life. Particularly in those with conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia, the risk of vascular diseases increases. Therefore, quitting alcohol and smoking, exercising, improving dietary habits, losing weight, and more—

it is essential to have healthy lifestyle habits that promote blood circulation. 

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