www.zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Getting a good night’s sleep is critical but not always easy. A new Web site aimed at sleep-related education, research and advocacy might help. The site, www.SleepSoundly.com, is a cooperative effort between the National Sleep Foundation and the mattress company Sealy. Its purpose is to offer trusted information for getting a healthy sleep at every stage of life.
Sleep topics include children and sleep routines, implications of teens and drowsy driving, sleep and travel, pregnancy and sleep, and common sleep problems for senior citizens. Under the topic of stress and insomnia, for example, the information defines the various types of insomnia, discusses common triggers and then offers numerous ways to overcome them. In avoiding children’s bedtime battles, the site details how to establish a successful bedtime ritual.
The self-help `gym’
Exercise guru Jack LaLanne, still robust at 91, invented several of the original kinds of equipment used at health clubs today. Yet he insists that it’s just as easy to stay fit doing activities at home. His daily routine involves an hour of weight lifting and half an hour of exercises and/or swimming in his lap pool.
In the July issue of Bottom Line Health, LaLanne offers several exercise ideas for people of any age. For example:
Work your leg muscles by walking up and down the stairs until tired.
Kick up your heart rate by running or walking in place, lifting your knees as high as you can.
At your desk, quickly stand up and sit down 10 times, then do it again at a slow pace five more times.
In front of the television, scoot down in your chair, hold the arms and pump your legs out in front of you as if riding a bicycle.
Stocking therapy
You may think of them as your grandma’s leggings, yet compression stockings are a great way to improve circulation and ease leg swelling, according to a story in the July issue of the Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource. Compression stockings work by applying mild pressure to the legs to help support veins so their valves work more efficiently.
Such stockings may be recommended for people with circulation problems during a long plane flight, after surgery or whenever you have to be off your feet for a time. They sometimes are recommended to help ease pain from varicose veins and the inflammation that results from thrombophlebitis (which occurs from a blood clot in the vein).
They also can help with lymphodema, a condition that causes swelling when the lymph vessels can’t drain fluid from your limbs.
Unlike regular support stockings, compression stockings must be measured by a professional (doctor, physical therapist, pharmacist) to ensure proper fit to the ankle and calf and the right level of compression.
