Archive for August, 2010

What’s the alternative: Varicose veins

Monday, August 30th, 2010

What’s the alternative: Varicose veins

Aug 30 2010 by Vicky Perks, Western Mail

VARICOSE veins – veins that are permanently dilated – are unfortunately very common, particularly if you spend a lot of time standing.

They occur mainly in the lower extremities because of the greater pressure exerted on them.

Muscles in the foot, calf and thigh act as pumps to push blood from the foot to the heart.

Valves in the vein close like gates if blood tries to run in the wrong direction, but if these valves fail to work properly, blood is forced to flow back down the leg causing superficial veins under the skin to bulge.

In effect, the varicose veins you see in your legs are due to blood damming up in superficial veins and their branches.

Why these veins fail is not completely understood but it may be due to a weakness in the valve itself or in the vein wall.

In addition to the veins themselves, legs can often feel tired and heavy and may be prone to swelling and cramping.

In severe cases surgery is the sensible option, but if you take care of your legs before they get to such a serious stage, then less drastic treatments can go a long way.

If you can help it, avoid standing for prolonged periods of time and if you do have to stand for a while, make a point of changing your position, shifting from one leg to the other. Try some leg exercises or wiggle your toes now and again.

To help reduce heaviness and swelling elevate your legs above the level of your heart for about 10 minutes each day. A simple way of achieving this is by lying down and resting your legs on a stack of pillows.

And avoid high heels – low heeled shoes work your calf muscles harder, which is better for your veins.

Herbal remedies can also help. One which has been used since the 19th century to help with leg and vein health is Aesculus or horse chestnut.

It has the ability to help improve the tone of veins, reducing leakage into the surrounding tissue.

Horse chestnut tablets and tincture can be taking orally and horse chestnut gel can be rubbed into tired legs.

Posted in Life in General |

Ice Hockey Player’s Secret Weapon-Vitamin D

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

The Chicago Blackhawks ice hockey team are the first “Vitamin D” team in modern professional sports history!

On a Sunday night, which will now go down in history; with just six minutes to go, the Blackhawks overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 and advance to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 18 years. Not only that, it was a clean sweep for the unheralded Blackhawks, for so long a forgotten team amongst the super teams like San Jose, Montreal and Philadelphia.

The return to form of the Chicago Blackhawks is attributed to the team physicians, who began diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency in all Blackhawk players about 18 months ago. Apparently most players are on 5,000 IU per day, some even more.

After many losing seasons, last year the Blackhawks came from out of nowhere to get to the Western conference finals. This year they are playing even better.

Improved athletic performance is only one of the benefits for the Blackhawks players. The other is a reduction in the number and severity of colds and flu and a reduction in the number and severity of repetitive-use injuries.

With London 2012 Olympic dreams close to many athletes hearts, naturally increasing sports performance is a Hot Topic.

Six months ago, Runner’s World published a story on vitamin D and physical performance, illustrating how Olympic runner Deena Kastor’s Olympic hopes were dashed through Vitamin D deficiency.
A year ago, May 2009, the flagship journal of the American College of Sports Medicine was the first journal to publish the theory that vitamin D would improve athletic performance.

Cannell JJ, Hollis BW et Al. Athletic performance and vitamin D Med Sci Sports Enerc. 2009 May;41(5):1102-10.

We are only at the tip of the iceberg in our understanding of vitamin D research, with more research be conducted on MS prevention, Diabetes prevention, and even Cancer prevention.

The prospect that our summer is already over, combined with low fat diets all contribute to fact many UK citizens are sadly deficient in vitamin D. This week prominent scientists were calling for increased fortification of vitamin D in Uk foods. In the meantime vitamin D is a nutrient I have added to my daily supplement program.

The revised vitamin D optimal recommendations are between 1000iu – 4000iu per day.

Always check with your doctor if you are taking prescribed medications, or have health condition, which could impair your absorption of vitamin D.

Natural sources of vitamin D include oily fish, egg yolks, and vitamin D fortified dairy products.

Posted in Life in General |