Bloodletting for Modern Health
by CS WagnerIf you have watched television, listened to the radio, or read a magazine at any time in the past ten years, you should know that there are plenty of drugs to help lower your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. These drugs are a trillion-dollar industry. Many claim there is no alternative. You have to go broke buying the drugs or have a heart attack/stroke and die.
What is the true risk? Cholesterol and blood pressure are slightly related when it comes to heart risk. Blood pressure is obvious. If you think of your blood vessels as little balloons, more pressure is identical to putting more air in the balloon. The outside of the balloon thins, weakens, and eventually breaks. Cholesterol adds to this effect by clogging up the blood veins. Think about how water comes out of a hose when you pinch off the end a little bit - a lot of pressure.
The key to avoiding this risk is lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Your cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dL. Your blood pressure should be below 140/90 mmHg. Your doctor may want even lower values, but these are numbers used for reference later on. Be assured that if you have a cholesterol level higher than 200 or a blood pressure higher than 140/90, you are at risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Now, think about your blood as a whole. The average adult has 10 pints of blood. You will also see 5 quarts or a little less than 5 liters. I am using pints because you give 1 pint of blood when you donate blood. I don't want to mix up units and confuse things.
Your blood is always on the move. Because it is always on the move, it stays mixed. If you take a pint of blood from your leg, the chemicals will be nearly identical to blood taken from your arm. In other words, you don't have extra cholesterol in one arm or one leg. It is evenly distributed throughout your blood supply - all 10 pints of it.
When you donate 1 pint of blood, you are are giving up about 10% of your blood. Because your cholesterol is evenly distributed through your blood, you are giving up about 10% of your cholesterol also. This is a great benefit to those with high cholesterol. In fact, the higher your cholesterol level, the better the benefit. Someone with a high level of 200 will give up 20 mg/dL. Someone with an extremely high level of 240 will give up 24 mg/dL. These are commonly called points by drug companies. They claim that they can reduce your cholesterol level by 2 or 3 points. Donating blood can easily lower your cholesterol level by about 20 points.
Blood pressure is reduced also. With 10% less blood, there is less pressure. In fact, the pressure reduction is so much that some people pass out after donating blood because there is not enough blood pressure to keep the brain functioning properly. Try and find a blood pressure reducing pill that will make you pass out.
The preceding paragraph was stricken after I performed an experiment and found that donating blood increases blood pressure. The blood vessels contract for the first day or two, increasing blood pressure to make up for the missing blood. Water is absorbed into the blood stream to replace the missing blood. By the third day, blood pressure will be lower and begin to raise back to normal within a week.
So, it is very easy to understand how donating blood, or bloodletting, reduces your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. But, it is temporary. Your body will increase the water in your blood in a couple days, pushing the blood pressure up near the previous level. Your cholesterol level will climb back to the previous level in about 10 days. So, all in all, you only get about a week's relief from your high risk of heart attack and stroke. That leads to the question of frequency. How often can you donate a liter of blood?
Most blood donation in the United States is run by the Red Cross. As such, donations are limited to once every 60 days (or 8 weeks). So, by donating regularly, you are only lowering your risk for one out of every eight weeks. Do not attempt to donate more often. You are donating more than just cholesterol. You are donating vital blood cells that keep your body healthy. Lack of such cells will cause more problems than just a higher risk of heart attack or stroke.
There is an open question: By lowering your risk every eight weeks, is there some lasting effect? After donating six times in a year, will you have a lower cholesterol level and blood pressure overall? I do not know. I know that I personally have a low cholesterol level at all times and my blood pressure is well within the healthy range. I am a computer programmer, so I am not athletic. I only donate regularly. Maybe you will have the same results. I seriously doubt any study will be done since studies are funded by drug companies and drug companies do not make money off blood donations.