HAPPY DOG DAY AFTERNOONS MY FELLOW PALM SPRINGITES!

BY JILL LANGHAM

Staying cool and hydrated, I hope. This is the first summer in 10 years that I have stayed in Palm Springs, and I must confess that it could be a lot worse! I believe you all remember me writing about the long Covid symptoms that I was having which really affected my ability to be outside in the heat.

There were days and even weeks that my pulse standing still was racing up to 133 and my blood pressure was hovering between 160/100 up to 190/110! It was very scary for me, and I really was uncertain as to whether I was ever going to go back to my previous state of health.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I received a message from my Apple Watch telling me that my walking pulse rate had lowered itself over the last 19 weeks from 113 down to 102! That was the best news ever.

Simultaneously, I had noticed that even being out in the 119-degree temperature, my pulse stayed at 108 and that was after having 2 champagnes and dancing. So, I asked myself why I thought that had happened and began tracking the changes I made. I wanted to share with you what I’d been doing over the last few months thinking that it could benefit you, too.

First off, I had started to do lymph drainage sessions at a spa specializing in treatments related to the lymph system. You see your lymph system is like a vacuum cleaner that cleanses our body by essentially escorting toxins out of the body. After all the sitting around we all did during Covid and the lack of regular weekly dancing really wreaked havoc on my body, making my lymph system pretty stagnant. As a result, the first treatment really made a huge difference. It was not only visible, but my mood and energy, instantly soared. I was so pleased. But when I went back two weeks later at their recommendation, I saw very little change.

I decided to be a little more pro-active and made it my priority to increase my water intake significantly, thinking and knowing that dehydration and the lack of movement will absolutely make your lymph system sluggish. I just added in more bottles of filtered pH water and began doing twice a day cardio session to make sure I was not only getting my steps in but was also giving my heart a more active cardiovascular workout. I just double checked, and my first lymph appointment was on March 4, and I received the notification from Apple 20 weeks later which is right on point as the first appointment was 19 weeks earlier.

I was suddenly seeing changes in my body which I had slowly forgotten about as your body makes subtle changes all the time which we don’t always see or appreciate. I hadn’t really noticed that I could no longer see the indentations under my arms in what’s known as the axilla or arm pit. If your lymph is freely flowing, you should have deep valleys under both armpits, which are quite sexy once noticed. But mine were far from that! However, after several weeks they started showing up again and were slowly becoming noticeable viable.

The other symptom that I feel is both mis-understood and misinterpreted is lymph around our waistline which takes on a very jello-like consistency, that is if the jello hasn’t yet been set up. It looks watery and has cellulite-like characteristics which most everyone is