Leg swelling causes are what everyone seems to have their mind on these days. Swelling in your legs not only makes your legs look fat but takes shape in all areas of your life. So, what are the causes of leg swelling? - It turns out there are so many that most people who don't have their doctorates in Podiatry wouldn't know where to start. That's why I have narrowed it down to the 3 major causes of leg swelling.
What is leg swelling?
Leg swelling is noticeable swelling in legs that is caused by fluid buildup in leg tissues.
Swelling in legs caused by fluid retention is referred to as peripheral edema. Retention of fluids in your body or just your legs is affected by both blood circulation and lymph flow. Gravity is thought to be a key attributing factor to leg swelling in women that don't see pedaling at their desk an option, who work sedentary desk jobs requiring prolonged sitting or standing.
The force of gravity does work on your body contributing to the accumulation of fluid in your lower limbs. In particular, prolong standing or sitting contributes heavily to the building up of fluids in your legs causing leg swelling.
What causes leg swelling?
Sedentariness
Prolonged standing or sitting is one of the major causes behind the accumulation of excess fluids in lower extremities including your feet, ankles, and lower legs.
Poor circulation
Sedentary behavior whether it is by choice or the product of spending most of your time in the office sitting at a desk may lead to poor blood circulation.
Spending 8 or more hours a day sitting at a desk working disturbs blood flow distribution in your body.
Sitting for prolonged periods of time at work or standing in the same position for a matter of fact causes noticeable circulation problems causing blood to pool stir up conditions like varicose veins said to be caused by prolonged standing or sitting and the crossing of legs that pathologically can lead to unwanted leg swelling, edema, gut possibly gut-wrenching conditions like cellulite.
Bottled up lymph
When sitting for a long period of time in a chair typing away, the pressure between your butt and sitting surface especially in an upright sitting position cause an uneven distribution of blood circulation that affects the lymph flow through your body.
Bottled up lymph can cause can cause your legs to swell up. Edema caused by blockages in your lymph system is what is known as lymph-edema. Lymphedema can be controlled.
Fundamentally speaking, all you have to do is figure out how to avoid blocking fluid flow through the body. That might mean getting up every 30 minutes to leave your desk or not wearing constrictive garments like stocking.
Your diet
Too much salt
A high sodium diet may cause swelling in your legs. One noticeable side effect that comes with eating too much salt is leg swelling. Too much salt worsens swelling in your legs caused by edema. Excess intake of salt not only leads to hypertension over time but also upsets the electrolyte balance in your bloodstream resulting in fluid retention or edema leg swelling.
Americans are recommended to limit their sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg a day if you are less than 51 years old, and 1,500 mg a day if over. However, in countries like Japan and China it is much more. The daily intake standard for Japanese people recommends 10,000 and 8,000 milligrams for men and women, respectfully.
The American Heart association says that when salt is the enemy you are going to need more potassium. The average American is said to consume as much as 3,436 mg a day. That is almost half the daily recommended intake of sodium.
Potassium acts as a diuretic helping you excrete more sodium out of your body through your urinary tract. Eating potassium-rich foods such as bananas, spinach, and fat free yogurt in conjunction with lower intakes of sodium may decrease leg swelling caused by excess sodium intake.
Do stay salt (sodium chloride) substitutes that are known to contain potassium chloride that can be found in dairy products such as cheese, milk, and whey products. Taking salt substitutes if you have a history with kidney failure, recovering from severe burns, have high levels of potassium in your blood, or are often dehydrated.
Obesity
When asked how does obesity cause swelling of the legs? - Dr. Colin Kopes-Kurr says that there are two ways obesity starts to cause leg swelling or edema.
Being overweight compresses your veins
When the veins that are supposed to take fluids out of your legs are compressed, fluid retention begins to take form in your legs causing leg swelling.
Not getting enough exercise
Getting enough exercise doesn't mean you are not obese to a degree but it is said to be important for helping these veins do their job right.
Dr. Seema N. Patel adds that the ratio between water weight and body fat also plays an important role.
As you obesity can cause swelling in your legs either directly or indirectly.
Bottom line on leg swelling causes
Leg swelling can be caused sedentariness, your diet, and obesity. So when you are sitting all day in the office dreading the effect is has on your legs causing leg swelling, remembering the following may help you kick the bucket on unwanted fluid retention making your legs look fat.
Stay active
One byproduct of working a desk job that requires you stay put in a chair all day is sedentariness.
Sedentary work may pay more than manual labor in some cases but takes a toll on your body not to mention causing unwanted leg swelling.
Getting up when you don't have to and taking rudimentary walks to the water cooler to stretch your limbs is one preventative measure to prevent swelling in legs due to poor circulation. Another is exercising while you work.
You've seen it a million times. Deskercise isn't overrated if you what it takes to multitask for your health. There are all kinds of ways to exercise without leaving your desk with the level of discreetness that murmurs in a humble tone that you can take care of yourself.
Watch what you eat
Watching what you eat is the diet equivalent of looking in the mirror before you leave the house, because you never know what kind of disaster is waiting to happen by not checking on your selfie.
Take a picture of the foods you are eating. If you find that you salt intake is above average, that doesn't mean you are going to get an A or a B on your next health exam. Too much salt in your diet can cause leg swelling to take root in your legs.
Eating diuretic foods particularly foods rich in potassium helps unpair the bond between sodium chloride and your blood causing your blood to clot and fluids to get stuck in the bodily tissue lying underneath your skin leading to noticeable leg swelling.
Lose some weight
Losing a few extra pounds may reshape you in more ways than one not just lowering the risk of developing lower leg swelling due to pinched veins. The perceived notion that overweight people don't get as much exercise as fit, healthy, confidence-inclined people is overrated. Just because you may carry a little more extra weight around doesn't mean you can't turn fitness upside down putting on some solid weight.
To do that, you are going to need a plan. Planning to lose weight can be a daunting task to say the least. Not only do you have to start exercising more often, you have to think in terms of nutrition. Exercising without eating right is not going to help you get the results you need in the time you want it.
Losing weight requires you get the full package not just spending all your time on getting a six pack. Packed tightly and securely into any weight loss plan that is worth more than twenty dollars are fundamental concepts defining the science of weight loss.
Do's
Be a team player
When someone offers to be at your side through thick and thin there are two roads that you need to consider before telling them off.
One, get married. Having a partner that supports your need to stay in shape is a definite must. It may sound like fortune cookies to you right now but if that's what it take to lose some weight, have at it.
Two, become best workout buddies forever. There better way to lock down success in weight loss than having someone always there to tell you what you want to hear. Yes we can!
Micro-manage
Managing to keep yourself composed when things are not going your way, don't cover up your tracks. Everyone makes mistakes.
Whether you are giving into the stress of your daily life, throwing down something that doesn't belong anywhere near your plate or just taking too long of a break from the gym because you got something better do that doesn't require sweat off you back like watching your favorite show on the computer, remember there is no second place in fitness.
Keep a tight grasp on what you are putting in your body in addition to how much time you are spending in the gym exercise. Only then, will you be able to take on mother nature like a true child of nature dropping pounds just like that as if you cut the atmosphere in half with a butter knife.
Don't sweat letting yourself down from time to time. Nobody is perfect. Becoming stress over shortcomings in diet and exercise could be the downfall to your success in weight loss. Build up stress causing you to lose the motivation you need to eat right and exercise more will make you the enemy.
As long as you are able to stay active, effectively watch what you eat, and lose some weight there shouldn't be a problems eliminated leg swelling causes.
