How’s Your Circulation? A Vascular Biologist’s 2 Easy Tricks To Self-Assess

First up: Check your eyes. He explains: “Some areas to check your circulation [are] actually the whites of your eyes, like the fleshy part underneath your eyelid. You can actually see how well your blood vessels are there.” That’s because high blood pressure can potentially cause damage to the retina, a condition known as hypertensive retinopathy.

Of course, broken blood vessels in the eye are quite common and don’t always signal an underlying issue (most of the time, they happen due to things like tugging on the eye area or intense coughing, sneezing, or even laughing). But if it happens a bunch and you’re at all concerned, it may be worth getting it checked out.

The second (and, arguably, the easiest) method is to focus on your skin tone. According to Li, “[the] coloration of our skin is due to good circulation.” So how can you test your skin for circulation clues? It turns out, it’s pretty simple: “You can press your skin to see if it blanches,” says Li.

See, when you press down firmly enough, you’ll block the blood flow. As a result, the area you’re pressing might drain of color. When you release the pressure, he explains, look for how quickly it bounces back: “What you’re looking for is changes in sensation and feeling,” Li notes.

Meaning, if your usual skin tone reappears quite rapidly, that’s a pretty good sign your blood can move freely through the vessels. If it takes a while (as in more than a few seconds), that could be a sign your circulation might not be up to par.