What Should You Do to Ease the Heaviness in Your Legs?

Are your legs feeling heavy? We all associate summer with leisure, relaxation, and sunny days. But sometimes, the rising temperatures of summer might bring heavy legs syndrome, which means you might experience swollen, stiff, and tired legs. This condition might feel like carrying extra baggage in your legs. As the veins dilate during high temperatures and the vein valves don’t work efficiently, you might experience poor blood circulation resulting in heavy legs. Many people, especially women, suffer from painful and heavy legs, which can make the legs feel weighed down while walking or even sitting. Sometimes your ankles might also feel heavy, accompanied by visible bluish or purplish leg veins. The problem is mostly related to the circulatory system, and chronic venous insufficiency might be the base of these symptoms. Depending on its severity, this blood circulation disorder might also come with multiple risk factors like familiarity, eating habit disorders, use of certain drugs, sedentary lifestyle, being overweight, old age, and constipation. In the initial stage, heavy legs syndrome can be treated at home, and you can learn about heavy legs treatment here.

Tips To Relieve The Heaviness In Your Legs:

●    Elevate your legs:

When you put your legs up, your body does not have to work against gravity to pump blood and other fluids out of your legs. You can use pillows or cushions to improve the blood flow. You can also use a reclining stool or chair to keep your feet elevated above your heart level so that it can relieve some pressure in the legs and refresh blood circulation.

●    Avoid prolonged sitting or standing:

Staying in the same position for a prolonged duration can slow blood circulation and increase blood pressure. Switching through different positions of the body can promote efficient blood circulation. Moreover, you should never cross your legs while sitting as it can promote swelling in the lower limbs. Try to keep your feet parallel and well-rested on the floor as much as you can.

●    Contrast showers:

You can use a warm water stream in your outer legs in an upward direction starting at your feet. After this, you can spray the water stream on the groin area for a certain duration and then shower down towards the inside of your legs. You can get started with warm water for the first phase and repeat the process with cold water. This can enable better blood circulation and regulate blood flow by increasing the tension in the blood vessels.

●    Wear compression stockings:

Compression stockings are designed to provide firm and gentle pressure to the legs. They are known to improve blood circulation and reduce fatigue, swelling, and a heavy feeling in the legs. If you have to spend prolonged periods of time standing or sitting or suffer from conditions like lymphedema, compression stockings can be largely beneficial. You can wear these stockings regularly to increase comfort and mobility in your legs. However, avoid compression stockings if you suffer from chronic heart disease, as they can put pressure on the blood flow.

●    Reduce sodium intake in your diet:

Salt in your body has the tendency to retain water instead of flushing it out through urine and sweat. So you should always try to reduce salt intake in your diet as it can cause swelling of the legs. You should also maintain good hydration levels in the body to flush toxins that are stagnated in the blood vessels.

●    Quit smoking:

Apart from other health hazards, smoking can also negatively impact blood circulation in your body and aggravate symptoms like heavy legs. You might prevent swollen legs by reducing or stopping the smoking habit and sometimes even prevent the initial related symptoms.

The feeling of having heaviness in your legs might lead to the development of varicose veins. These are twisting, swollen, and enlarged veins that often appear to be dark purple or blue in color. It can sometimes occur due to prolonged standing or sitting in a certain position which can lead to limited circulation in the lower limbs. This can make your heart work against gravity to pump enough blood and, as a result, make you uncomfortable.

Overweight people are more susceptible to leg heaviness as their growing body weight puts more pressure on the legs and hinders the return flow of blood to the heart. Similarly, in the case of pregnant women, the uterus is responsible for compressing the blood vessels, which substantially slows down the blood flow. It is always advisable to speak with your doctor if the above-mentioned home remedies don’t work and if the problem persists for a long time.