Elevate for 15 minutes. Elevating your legs for just 15 minutes three to four times a day can significantly improve circulation. At work, you can put your feet up on the break room sofa when appropriate. If you stand for your job, sit down and prop your legs to ease the swelling and pain.
How Long Should You Elevate Your Legs? To reduce swelling and improve circulation, it's recommended that you elevate your legs daily for at least 15 to 20 minutes. This allows time for blood and fluids to drain from your legs.
Spend 20-30 minutes with your legs elevated, then take a break and elevate them again later in the day. Repeat throughout the day: How frequently you should elevate your legs depends on the person. Try out 2-3 times per day for 20-30 minutes, and if the swelling is still there, repeat a few more times.
Elevating a limb, especially the legs, above the heart allows the blood to circulate back to the heart without fighting gravity. The heart still pumps blood to these extremities, but the stress on the heart is reduced. This helps to mitigate swelling and brings fresh and oxygenated blood to the limbs.
Elevate your legs above your heart for at least 20 minutes a day to improve your circulation and reduced swelling in legs. Take this opportunity to not only take the pressure off your legs, but also decrease stress, relax or meditate.
Symptoms of poor circulation are often easy to spot. They include muscle cramping, constant foot pain, and pain and throbbing in the arms and legs. As well as fatigue, varicose veins, and digestive issues. Leg cramps while walking and wounds that don't seem to heal in your legs, feet, and toes are also symptoms.
You can improve your poor circulation symptoms in these ways: Exercise. Eat a healthy diet. Quit smoking.
By elevating your legs as you sleep, you can reduce the discomfort and pain this may bring, as well as reduce the swelling. It can also soothe any muscle tension you may have by removing pressure. If you're on your feet a lot during the day, it's a good way to relieve tension while you're sleeping.
If your leg is swollen and you raise it higher than your heart, the force of gravity will be moving the fluid in your leg towards your heart. The more the swelling and the longer there has been swelling, the longer and more frequently your need to elevate your legs. Start with 20 minutes twice a day.
Exercises such as squats, walking, foam roller stretch and heel lifts may improve the circulation of blood in your legs. Elevating your legs when sitting for prolonged periods of time and eating a balanced diet are some other ways you can support healthy blood circulation.
Just like reducing swelling, elevating legs allows blood that has pooled to drain away. This lowers the pressure on your veins as well, allowing them to benefit from a much-deserved break. Pressure can lead to varicose veins and other more serious vein issues if left unchecked.
Don't elevate your legs on a table or desk without a cushion to prevent the edges and corners from digging into your skin. This can cause leg pain, bruising, spider veins, and nerve damage to the area. It's also counterproductive, as it hurts circulation to the area due to excessive pressure.
Elevating your legs, especially while you sleep, promotes healthy blood flow back to your heart without being weighed down by gravity. Sleeping with your legs elevated can also help alleviate the pain caused by varicose veins.
Sleeping on your left side to make it easier for blood to flow in and around your heart. Keeping your arms at your sides instead of under or behind your head. Making sure your pillow supports your neck and spine and keeps them neutrally aligned.
“Exercise helps circulation as it increases blood flow, gets the heart pumping blood around your body faster and helps flush the blood through your arteries,” explains Physiologist Jemelle. “And it's never too early or too late to start proactively looking after your cardiovascular health.”
In fact, just 20 minutes of the exercise is considered helpful to calm the nervous system and lower stress and anxiety, if any. When blood circulation increases in the body, it elevates the venous drainage, relieves tension or fatigue from the legs, feet and even the hips.
The amount of time needed in order for the elevation to be effective will vary from injury to injury, but for a typical leg injury, you'll need to raise your legs above your heart for three to four times a day and for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. This will help you get the most out of the elevation treatment.
Placing a pillow between your legs can help reduce muscle tension by preventing your legs from pulling, providing you with a better night's sleep and less pain and undue stress on your back in the morning.
Avoid sleeping beneath any beams of the house. Avoid placing your legs towards the door of bedroom as it can cause nightmares.
Better Circulation
Wearing socks in bed warms them up, increasing blood circulation, lowering your core body temperature, and letting your brain know it's time to go to sleep. And when circulation improves, this ensures good blood and oxygen flow, so our heart, lungs, and muscles can work at optimum capacity.
Potassium (Vitamin K)
Potassium is an essential mineral for many important bodily functions, including blood circulation. It keeps the blood vessel walls strong and can even help prevent bulging veins. Potassium can be found in a variety of healthy and tasty foods like bananas and avocados.
Answer: Blood travels at three feet per second when it leaves the heart, but it slows down as it gets into smaller arteries and capillaries. It takes a minute to get around the body.