How to Avoid Varicose Veins?

As an active person, you are probably often in shorts when you exercise or around others who are. You may have seen varicose veins start to show on yourself. Or perhaps on others when you are at the gym or out for a run. Varicose veins are often not a serious health problem. However, some people are still embarrassed by how it looks on their skin. Below we discuss 5 steps on how to avoid varicose veins.

Keep in mind it’s not always possible to avoid varicose veins. There are times when these problematic veins will happen due to family history or sudden changes in your body. Thankfully, the latter can be avoided if you just maintain your weight, live a healthy lifestyle, and exercise more often.

There are ways to avoid any sudden changes in your body and prevent the appearance of varicose veins. We have listed these below. As an added bonus, they will also help you energize your body and have a more consistent, healthier everyday routine.

Avoid Too Much Sodium

Every health regimen starts with a proper diet. No matter how consistent you are with your daily workout, having healthy eating habits is critical to good health.

As for those who have varicose veins, experts and specialists from a Phoenix vein clinic suggested avoiding consuming too much sodium. Besides increasing your blood pressure and damaging your kidneys, sodium-rich foods can also cause your body to retain more water. This can make you more prone to swelling and varicose veins.

If you still have no idea how to start your diet and plan your meals, then you can temporarily stick to fiber-rich foods and avoid sodium-rich food in the meantime. This way, you can immediately start your journey towards a healthy lifestyle even without a specific and unique diet to follow.

Stick to Low-Impact Exercise

There are no official studies or experiments to prove this, but several doctors, surgeons, and specialists believe that intense and high-impact exercise as you age can contribute to the appearance of your varicose veins if you are at a high risk of developing them. The main reason behind this is that strenuous exercise can overexert your muscles and put a strain on your venous circulation. This, in turn, can make you more prone to develop varicose veins around your arms and legs.

That is why many experts often recommend low-impact exercise for people who have varicose veins. Exercise such as walking, biking, and swimming can help your calf muscles move and get stronger. This enables your blood to flow smoothly and prevents pressure from building up. It is also easy on the joints as well as helps circulation for those who already have varicose veins.

What is great about these low-impact exercises is that you can easily do these low-impact exercises anywhere. Low-impact exercise is quite beneficial for varicose veins rather than engaging in a sedentary lifestyle. More on that below.

Prevent Being Immobile for Too Long

Although prolonged sitting is not entirely the cause of varicose veins, it can still lead to poor circulation in your legs. This can make you more prone to developing varicose veins. If you are wondering how to avoid varicose veins, be sure to keep this in mind every time you are traveling or commuting long distances.

But if sitting for too long is inevitable, then you can simply learn a few tricks and exercises that you can do whilst sitting. One example of which is rotating your feet at your ankles.

If for example, you are traveling a long distance by plane, you will likely have some time periodically to move around the cabin. You should at least extend your legs and stand up every once in a while. This way, you can decrease the pressure and improve circulation in your legs.

Always remember to avoid being immobile for too long to avoid blood pooling and leg swelling. Doing this would not only prevent varicose veins but can minimize other muscles and vein complications from your waist down.

Rethink your Wardrobe

Tight clothing and high heels are not a great combination for those who are trying to avoid varicose veins. While these things do not directly lead to varicose veins, wearing these every day can exacerbate existing ones. They could also increase your chances of developing them.

Tight clothes can restrict your circulation, making you more prone to develop varicose veins. However, it is worth noting that tight clothes like skinny jeans are completely different from compression stockings. These stockings are specifically designed to help aid your circulation and support your muscles. They are often recommended to patients who have just undergone treatment/surgery to completely remove their varicose veins.

As for high heels, they can alter your natural walking position. This causes your weight to shift in your foot and causes your muscles to contract. Besides pain and feeling uncomfortable, wearing heels every day increases your chance of developing varicose veins in your legs.

Be consistent

With all the previous steps that we mentioned, the most important thing is to stay consistent. This will help you maintain your health in the long run. Maintaining your health is one of the most effective and natural ways to improve energy and be productive at all times.

Doing all of these steps sporadically can minimize the effectiveness and even make you more prone to varicose veins. For example, avoiding being immobile when traveling but still not fixing your 9-5 routine at work whilst you sit all day would be of no use. Remember that you cannot just do these steps above only when it is convenient. You need to stick to it and apply all of these things in your everyday life.

And before you know it, you are already on your journey towards having a better and healthier lifestyle.

Coming to Terms

This article was about how to avoid varicose veins. As mentioned before, not all of us can avoid varicose veins. The best thing that we can do is find a way to minimize and prevent its appearance.

If after all these steps, you still cannot prevent the appearance of varicose veins, then the best thing to do is to consult with your doctor or a vein specialist. This way, they can recommend which treatments are best for you.

At the end of the day, having varicose veins is a common condition. It can affect all of us at some point in our life. Aside from doing all the steps that we mentioned above, the best way forward is often to accept and come to terms that some varicose veins are just not avoidable. However, there are multiple ways to treat varicose veins if they do occur.