Continuing from last week’s post- something else that links in well with stress and can exacerbate the symptoms that stress has on the healing of wounds is a person’s diet, sleep and whether or not they smoke or drink.
Sleep
Mild moving through to severe sleep disruption is relatively common when someone is stressed.
This sleep disruption on its own without stress has been found to increase wound healing time.
Diet
Diet can also slow down wound healing time as if you are low on sugar, polyunsaturated fatty acids and protein this can reduce the body’s ability to heal itself as it doesn’t have the right materials.
Alcohol
Alcohol consumption holds back wound healing as it disrupts your cardiac and immune function, by reducing the amount of collagen that can be layed at a time.
Smoking
Smoking also doesn’t help at all due to all the toxins and nicotine which is inhaled during a puff.It delays healing due to decreasing the amount of oxygen available to the injured area and it also slows down the speed at which the body’s immune system works.
Remember I offer Sport Massage, Swedish Massage and injury treatment in Newent, Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Forest of Dean and surrounding areas.