What is the reason why the blood is so thick

Thick blood is a common symptom among the elderly, which is also called hyperviscosity. There are many causes of hyperviscosity, such as excessive cell concentration, increased blood viscosity, increased blood cell aggregation, weakened blood cell deformability, abnormal blood lipids, etc. Blood viscosity has a great impact on patients, so timely treatment or body conditioning is needed.

1. What is blood viscosity and hyperviscosity?

Blood viscosity is the abbreviation of blood viscosity and is one of the indicators reflecting blood viscosity. The main factors affecting blood viscosity include: red blood cell aggregation and deformability, hematocrit, size and shape, the content of cholesterol, triglycerides and fibrinogen in the blood, etc.

Hyperviscosity (or hyperviscosity) is a clinical pathological syndrome characterized by abnormal blood rheology parameters, caused by an increase in one or more blood viscosity factors, which makes the blood excessively viscous and slows blood flow. In layman's terms, the blood is too viscous. This is because the red blood cells in the blood aggregate into clusters and lose the necessary gaps and distances, or the red blood cells in the blood have a reduced ability to bend and deform when passing through tiny capillaries, which increases the viscosity of the blood, increases circulation resistance, and causes poor microcirculation blood flow.

2. Causes of Hyperviscosity

① The cell concentration is too high: the number of cells in the blood increases relatively. For example, the water content in the body of the elderly is relatively reduced, and the water content in the blood also decreases, so the proportion of blood cells will be relatively increased. As the liquid component in the blood decreases and the solid component increases, the viscosity of the blood will naturally increase.

② Increased blood viscosity: In addition to red blood cells, the blood also contains many plasma proteins, such as globulin, fibrinogen, etc. When these large molecular proteins increase in number, they often adhere to red blood cells to form a grid, increasing the resistance to blood flow and causing increased blood viscosity.

③ Increased aggregation of blood cells: The cells in the blood should perform functions individually rather than aggregate together. When there is some abnormality in the structure of red blood cells or platelets, the red blood cells and platelets will accumulate together, blocking blood vessels and forming blood clots.

④ The deformability of blood cells is weakened: The capillaries in the human body are very thin, and the smallest blood vessel can only allow one blood cell to pass through. Moreover, blood cells have to change their shape when passing through small blood vessels to facilitate passage. When the deformability of blood cells is weakened, it is difficult for them to pass through small blood vessels, affecting the blood flow rate and thus increasing blood viscosity.

⑤ Abnormal blood lipids: Since blood circulates throughout the body, when the lipid content in the blood is too high, the blood's own viscosity can change. In addition, increased blood lipids can inhibit fibrinolysis and further increase blood viscosity. Increased blood viscosity is conducive to the occurrence of coronary heart disease and may even induce acute myocardial infarction.

3. Early signs of hyperviscosity

The blood becomes viscous and the flow rate slows down. As a result, lipids in the blood are deposited on the inner walls of blood vessels, causing stenosis of the lumen and insufficient blood supply, leading to the occurrence of diseases such as myocardial ischemia, cerebral thrombosis, and limb vascular thrombosis. Some middle-aged and elderly people often feel dizzy, sleepy, and have memory loss, and always think that these are inevitable phenomena in the decline of life. In fact, these are the consequences caused by hyperviscosity syndrome.

The main early symptoms are: ① Dizziness in the morning and wakefulness at night; ② Feeling sleepy after lunch; ③ Shortness of breath while squatting to work; ④ Paroxysmal blurred vision; ⑤ During physical examinations with blood tests, the needle tip is often blocked and the blood quickly coagulates in the needle tube; during blood rheology measurements, the blood viscosity is above "+++", and other indexes are also significantly increased.

In daily life, if middle-aged and elderly people find themselves having the above symptoms, they should go to the hospital for a blood rheology examination in time.