Using our legs helps prevent congestive heart failure

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Yankiwi
Posts: 548
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:20 am
Location: West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

Using our legs helps prevent congestive heart failure

Post by Yankiwi »

RLS might help keep congestive heart failure away because we tend to move around a lot. The following is a clear explanation of how moving our muscles, primarily our legs, pumps blood through our veins.

“Congestive heart failure means that the heart is not strong enough to pump the blood that returns to it, so the blood backs up, filling the lungs with fluid to make the person short of breath, and filling the legs and feet with fluid which causes swelling and pain.
“Aging weakens all muscles in the body, including the heart muscle. The primary stimulus for blood to circulate through your body comes from your skeletal muscles, not your heart. When you move your muscles, primarily the large muscles in your legs, they squeeze the veins near them which increases the amount of blood that returns to your heart. Then the leg muscles relax and the veins near them fill with blood. Your heart is a big muscular balloon. The extra blood pumped by the leg muscles fills the heart causing the heart to beat faster and with more force. This helps to explain why strong skeletal muscles are so important for heart health.”

The quoted material above was taken from a short biography of Nancy Reagan written by Dr. Gabe Mirkin's M.D. There are many interesting biographies on his website of famous people from all walks of life who have been in the news recently. It's excellent reading for the middle of the night.

To read more, copy and paste the url below.

http://www.drmirkin.com/histories-and-m ... auses.html

badnights
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Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:20 pm
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada

Re: Using our legs helps prevent congestive heart failure

Post by badnights »

One of the boons of WED/RLS. Maybe I should be grateful! lol

That's an interesting site, thanks for the link
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

debbluebird
Posts: 2386
Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 3:27 pm

Re: Using our legs helps prevent congestive heart failure

Post by debbluebird »

Since my Mother died from this, I guess this is good news. I tend to be like her.

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