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Here is a partial paper that was left by an "adjustable bed" salesperson. I think you will find it most interesting. ======================= THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBES Put Your Feet Up Dr. J. Dewitt Fox NOTE: This is the beginning of an article written by Doctor J. Dewitt Fox which appeared in a periodical titled, Life & Health, date unknown. Sit down and take a load off your feet," we often say. An even better idea is to put your feet up and take a load off your heart. If you stand long hours at your work you know what a joy it is at night to slip out of your shoes and hoist your feet up on a footstool. As a neurosurgeon I do a lot of standing during operations, and can sympathize with barbers, policemen, printers, saleswomen, factory workers, anti housewives who must stand much of the time. To ease the load on your feet and your heart, put your feet up. There's good reason for this advice, based on your circulatory system and its design. Strange to say, the circulation of the blood, although accomplished primarily by the heart, is assisted by the tiny muscles within the artery walls and the large muscles of the arms and legs. The arteries carry blood from the heart to the body. Under stress, they constrict, or narrow in caliber. This reaction raises blood pressure, carries blood faster to arms, legs and vital organs. The veins do not have these little muscles. The veins depend on the muscles of the arms and legs to milk the blood back to the heart. If you do not exercise your leg muscles by walking and you must stand most of the day the blood tends to pool in the long veins of the legs. By evening, your legs feel heavy, ache, and sometimes swell because of the downward pressure of the column of blood stalled in the veins to the ankles and feet. In the person who stands for long hours every day, fluid may even escape from the veins and capillaries into the tissues of the ankles and legs. This physiological fact is why some people develop swollen ankles, varicose veins, and cramping pain in the calf muscles at night. Another malady of the standing and sedentary worker is a tendency toward varicose veins. Some people can prevent varicose veins by exercise, but others have a congenital tendency to weak vein walls. Whether you have varicose veins or only wish to prevent them, put your feet up. Getting your feet up drains the veins of the pooled blood that has been ballooning them, thus easing the aching of swollen legs and ankles. You help your heart when you elevate your feet. Whenever you can, lie down and put your feet higher than your heart. Such a position favors the return flow of blood to the heart, aided by gravity. For people with heart disease or a weakened heart, elevating the feet is especially valuable. It aids in the filling of the heart, improves circulation, and reduces ankle swelling. Putting your feet up is old-fashioned comfort, which our grandparents enjoyed fully. In every pioneer farmhouse there was a rocking chair and a footstool on which to elevate the feet. The rocking chair helped the leg muscles milk the blood back to the heart; the footstool helped Mother Nature to do it by gravity. For deep-down comfort, try this: Lie on the floor, put your feet up in a chair, and let the rest of the world go by for a half hour or so. This simple act takes a load off your feet, heart, and body. Some evening while watching TV, listening to hi-fi, or sitting quietly in the living room with the lights turned low, take off your shoes, put your feet up in a sofa or chair, and just let go. See what a refreshed feeling it gives you. The reason: You drain the stagnant blood from the legs, oxygenate it in the lungs, and return it to circulation. Time was when I was critical of the executive with his feet on the desk. Now I know why he puts his feel up--to improve his efficiency. By draining blood from his feet and legs and renewing it with plenty of oxygen, he is taking a load off his vascular system. He is actually giving his body a break. Many executives are encouraged to go even farther and use a couch. Five or ten minutes of lying flat on a couch without a pillow and with the feet up on the armrest, higher than the heart, does much to make a person feel sharp and get his work done with dispatch. This position shifts old blood from the feet and shunts fresh blood to the brain. Relaxing brain, body, and blood vessels does a lot toward combating high blood pressure. ================= Regards, Alan Bonander Age 55, Diag 11 yrs, liquid meds, pallidotomy [log in to unmask]