Summer leg pain: causes, remedies, and prevention

Legs experience increased pressure in summer. On the one hand, physical exertion is greater, partly due to high temperatures and lack of exercise. On the other, the heat slows blood circulation, particularly the return of blood from the legs to the heart. The result is increased fluid retention, swollen legs, and a feeling of heaviness. But what are the remedies for summer leg pain? And what effective prevention can be used to avoid it?

Cause

Among the most important causes of summer leg pain are:

• Lack of physical exercise. In summer, and especially during the holidays, people tend to slacken off any physical exercise, even a simple one. walkAnd lack of movement does not promote good circulation.
• Too much physical activity. If you overdo it, pushing your body, especially your legs, too hard during the summer months, you get the same negative result: sore legs.
• Heat and excessive humidity are certainly the main causes of summer leg pain.
• Mancanza di Magnesium e PotassiumA lack of these two minerals increases the risk of cramps and bloating and promotes water retention. Furthermore, summer increases the consumption of foods high in salt, which can also worsen water retention.
• Dehydration. A lack of water certainly affects the body in summer and increases heavy legs.
• Hormonal components. In women in summer, during the period, hormonal changes occur that affect water retention and cause swelling and heaviness in the legs.

Remedies

If your legs feel heavy and swollen, try these effective natural remedies instead of wasting your money and your health on unnecessary medications. The discomfort will go away naturally and quickly.

• Elevated legs. When sitting, or even lying on a couch, always try to keep your legs slightly elevated. Even at night, you can use a pillow to place under your legs. Raising your legs will improve blood circulation, especially from the bottom up.
• Get moving. The arrival of summer shouldn't mean completely abandoning physical activity. Do it, at least for 20-30 minutes a day, even just by taking a walk. And especially work your calves, whose muscles put pressure on the veins to push blood upward. On the contrary, staying still for too long is absolutely not recommended.
• Hot and cold water jets. As soon as you feel heaviness, apply frequent jets of hot and cold water, alternating, to your legs: this will have an immediate effect. Avoid hot baths, however, as they increase vasodilation and could slow blood circulation.
• Massages. Always useful in summer, especially if done with natural creams such as horse chestnut, ginkgo biloba, blueberries, and gotu kola.
• Wear cool, comfortable clothing. Avoid tight-fitting clothing, including jeans. Choose natural fabrics, starting with cotton and from hemp. Shoes must also be particularly comfortable.

Prevention

Prevention of heavy legs in summer is very easy, and is based on a few simple behaviors.

• Walk wherever possible, especially along the shoreline, in the sand, and along mountain trails while trekking. These are all natural massages that improve circulation from the bottom up.
• Swim. Swimming is also an ideal summer activity to prevent heavy and sore legs.
• A healthy, light diet the hotter it gets. Low in salt, sugar, and saturated fat. Instead, plenty of fruits and vegetables.
• Avoid prolonged exposure to the sun. Especially during the hottest hours of the day, and when sunbathing, apply sunscreen to your legs as well.
• During long train or plane journeys, get up often to stretch your legs.

When to see a doctor

A medical visit is necessary when leg swelling and the feeling of heaviness worsen, despite the natural remedies you've tried. Your doctor will then identify any other causes of the discomfort and proceed with the necessary treatment.

Read also:

• How to tone your legs quickly
• Cellulite Remedies: From Food to Exercise
• What to do to have smooth legs
• Avoid heavy legs with 10 effective moves. How to strengthen veins and capillaries naturally.