Veins hard to take blood from? Two keys to making it easier.

Winter can be a tough time to have a blood test if your veins don’t cooperate. Here are two strategies that can help.

The first is to turn up for your blood test well hydrated. Blood’s thicker and flows slowly when we’re dehydrated, making blood tests more difficult.

If you’re going early in the morning you won’t have much time to drink, so start the day before.

You don’t need to over-hydrate, just have a couple of glasses of water between meals.

The second strategy is to keep your arms warm — obviously more of an issue in winter than in summer.

Have a warm shower and give your arms a good rub with the towel. Put on something with long sleeves that you can roll up or take off for your test. Moving your arms around and/or massaging them will also help to keep the blood moving.

Alternatively, run your inner arm area under warm water or wrap a warm towel around that area beforehand.

Blood tests aren’t much fun but they’re a fact of life. Being well-hydrated and keeping our arms warm should at least make them go a little more smoothly.

Photo Source: Vecteezy