ARE YOU A BRUISER?

I'm not sure if any of you have ever noticed but I am regularly covered in multiple bruises due in part to my general clumsiness and also having a very strong and equally clumsy playmate aka Xena the Staffy.  If you find you're discovering lots of bruises on your person and you're not clumsy or a dog owner, here are some reasons as to why this might be happening.  Firstly, and it's always the one we hate the most, yes AGE!!  We bruise more as we get older as we lose the protective fatty layer beneath the skin (so the fatter we are the more protected we are?) as well as thinning of the skin as the production of collagen reduces.  In short it takes less force to get a bruise than when we were younger.

The presence of a blood disorder can explain increases in bruises as your blood fails to clot.  If you experience frequent & severe bruising it's best you go and see your GP.

Although not bruising but can look like it, diabetes causes discolouration of areas of the skin that regularly touches another area of skin.  These fake bruises are a result of resistance to insulin.

If you're at the gym and you push yourself  to try and lift an over heavy weight and you end up with a bruise, well this is due to microscopic tears in the muscle fibres.  In addition, you could be really going for it and not remember actually bashing yourself (Done that loads of times too).

If you're taking aspirin or other anticoagulants as advised by your doctor these will lead you to be more prone to bruising as the bloods clotting capability is being impaired.  Taking oral contraceptives can also lead to increased bruising as the blood vessels are in a weakened state.

A family history of easily bruising will no doubt result in you too being more likely to bruise.  Also if you are naturally pale in a Wednesday Addams kind of way, then any bruise is going to be more noticeable.

And finally, although we all need to expose ourselves to the sun to bump up our Vitamin D levels, prolonged exposure to the sun over some years can result in the skin becoming less pliable and resilient and so again makes the skin more likely to bruise.

To help prevent bruising it's worth looking at your diet and ensuring it contains plenty of Vitamin C and flavonoids found in fruit and veg.  If you do find yourself with a plethora of bruises some simple measures can help them to heal speedily and include Arnica Oil applied topically, cold compresses, Aloe Vera, Calendula, a raw onion placed onto the bruise, or a hot or cold apple cider vinegar poultice onto the bruise too.

til next week

MB