Activate Your Tired Legs

Published: 15 June, 2015 - Updated: 6 October, 2016 | 2'

ACTIVATE YOUR LEGS

Sedentary work, lack of physical exercise, overweight and jobs that make people stand for long hours generate complaints caused by blood circulation problems in legs. These problems may be due to blodd vessels having lost their elasticity as a result of long lasting tensions. This poses more problems to blood flow to the heart.

It is also frequent during pregnancy that legs suffer, specially in the last three months. Tired, swollen legs cause a feeling of discomfort. Blood finds it more difficult to flow and fluid retention becomes very common, this causes the pregnant woman to feel uncomfortable.

IWith relation to age, the older we get, the more chances we have to suffer from bad blood flow and the worse this will be. Gender plays also a part in this, as this problem is twice as frequent among women than among men. .

The most common features of bad blood flow in legs are:

• Increasingly swollen legs, feet or ankle as the day progresses, a process that speeds up in the evening.
• The problem is lessened by resting and putting legs up.
• It gets worse with warm weather and better with cold one.

SOME TIPS

• A balanced diet is an important factor to be taken into account. It must be rich in fruit, as this contains flavonoids, that have vasoconstrictor properties.
• Resting with legs up. Do not stand, sit or sit with crossed legs for long hours.
• Try not to wear tight clothes or shoes.
• Alternate cold and warm water during the shower.
• Do physical exercise like walking.
• With relation to oral treatments, they have a double aim: on the one hand to strengthen capillaries, increasing their tone and blood flow speed; on the other hand to eliminate accumulated fluid by activating lymphatic drainage.

EXERCISES FOR YOUR LEGS

It would be positive for those suffering from tired legs to do certain exercises that help them activate blood flow and venous return. Among these we should mention swimming, yoga, cycling and above all short but frequent walks.

Other types of exercise to do at home:

1. Walking on tiptoes.
2. Moving toes.
3. Stand alternatively on tiptoes and on heels.
4. Move foot tips outwards and inwards.
5. Lie down and separate legs both horizontally and vertically.

If the feeling of tired legs persists despite looking after them, we may try some type of treatment based on medicinal plants or food supplements specially indicated to prevent and relieve the consequences of circulatory problems.