Home Test to Check for Artery Stiffness

A simple home test can help discern if your arteries are stiff and making you more prone to heart disease. A standard artery flexibly test requires a trip to the doctor's office, high tech lab equipment and several dollars out of your pocket. This home test for artery stiffness is free and all you have to do is sit down in the floor.

Have a Seat and Do the Test

Have a seat in the floor and stretch your legs out straight in front of you with toes pointed towards the ceiling. Try to touch your toes by bending forward at the hips and stretching your arms towards your toes.
If you can't touch your toes, it's a good indication that you have some degree artery stiffness. Increased risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol stem in part from stiff arteries and lead to heart attacks and strokes. The farther away you were from touching your toes, the stiffer your arteries are and the greater the risk for heart disease.

Why The Home Test Works

Artery walls are made up of the same smooth muscle cells and connective tissue as the muscles in your hips and back, so whatever stiffens one will also stiffen the other. If your hips and back were too stiff to reach your toes, your arteries are probably too stiff for the blood to flow through normally.

Causes of Artery Stiffness

Arteries become stiff due to the aging process, diabetes, extra weight, a sedentary lifestyle and plaque buildup on arterial walls. Healthy blood vessels (arteries) are soft and flexible, widening and narrowing as needed throughout the day. But when arteries become stiff they quit widening and narrowing as needed making it difficult for blood to flow through and that's when blood pressure rises to force the blood through the rigid vessels.

Increasing Arterial Flexibility

Stiff arteries are reversible and thereby lowering your risk of heart attack and stroke. Stretching exercises done regularly will limber up muscles and arteries. A few easy yoga stretches (many of which can be done from a seated position) done for 10-15 minutes each day can significantly improve flexibility of the arteries and muscles. In addition to the home test for artery stiffness, have blood pressure checked at least once a year.