Perfect PINS

The team behind Tullivers York on how you can embrace the holiday and sunny season

An estimated one in four of us has varicose veins. They can be extremely painful, especially if you spend a lot of time standing, and if left untreated, can lead to skin damage (red and brown skin near the ankles), venous eczema, leg ulcers and phlebitis, which is clotting in the vein.

WHAT ARE VARICOSE VEINS?

The word ‘varicose’ comes from the Latin for ‘dilated’. Varicose veins are veins that are permanently dilated. They occur mainly in the lower extremities because of the greater pressure exerted on them. Muscles in the foot, calf and thigh act as pumps to push blood from the foot to the heart. Valves in the vein close like gates if blood tries to run in the wrong direction, but if these valves fail to work properly, blood is forced to flow back down the leg causing superficial veins under the skin to bulge. In e ect, the varicose veins you see in your legs are due to blood damming up in superficial veins and their branches. Why these veins fail is not completely understood, but it may be due to a weakness in the valve itself or in the vein wall.

WHO IS AFFECTED BY VARICOSE VEINS?

Many people think of varicose veins as being a ‘female a iction’ and while pregnancy can be a contributing factor, many men are a ected too, especially those with jobs that require them to spend hours at a time on their feet, or sat behind a desk. In addition to the veins themselves, legs can often feel tired and heavy and may be prone to swelling and cramping.

Help With Varicose Veins

In severe cases, surgery is the sensible option, but if you take care of your legs before they get to such a serious stage, then less drastic treatments can go a long way.

Although probably not the look you’re going for, support stockings can help. They work by exerting more pressure near the ankles and feet, providing an extra squeeze that promotes blood flow.

Avoid standing for prolonged periods of time and if you do have to stand for a while, make a point of changing your position, shifting from one leg to the other, and wiggling your toes to help support your circulation.

Give heels a miss – low heeled shoes or flats work your calf muscles harder which is better for your veins.

Try to maintain a healthy weight to take the pressure o your veins, incorporating lots of anti-inflammatory foods into your diet, and take plenty of regular exercise. To help reduce heavy legs and swelling, elevate your legs above the level of your heart for about 10 minutes each day. A simple way of achieving this is by lying down and resting your legs on a stack of pillows.

Natural Support For Healthy Veins

Horse chestnut is probably the most popular herb used in the treatment of varicose veins. The seeds of the horse chestnut tree are used medicinally and these are the same seeds gathered each autumn for the game of conkers. They need to be prepared commercially, as various substances have to be removed from them before oral use. Try A.Vogel’s Venaforce Horse Chestnut tablets. If legs feel heavy or tired, there’s Venagel Horse Chestnut Gel. With extract of fresh horse chestnut, it helps to cool and soothe tired, heavy or aching legs. Smooth upwards and massage gently into legs.

Tullivers started out by selling herbs and wholefoods, and whilst they still keep many of those original products, they now stock a wide range of supplements, free-from products and organic bodycare. They pack their own dried fruit and nuts, so that they can choose the best; and local suppliers make their tofu, honey and provide their free-range eggs, and they o er organically-grown and Fair Trade options on many products.

In 1983 founders Helen Spath and David Weston passed the reins to assistant manager Alan Malcolm in 2016, who had been working at the shop for 15 years, and his wife, Tracey, herself a Tullivers veteran. The shop is now owned by Alan and Tracey, along with Alan’s sister and brother-in-law, making it a true family-run business. Whether you need help with digestive disorders, stress, joint problems, pregnancy, menopause, sleep problems or children’s health, their team is on hand. Their business supports over 40 other local businesses, which saves on business miles, and boosts the wider local economy. They keep things local wherever possible, they’re huge advocates of recycling and all of their energy is from a green supplier – they even cycle or bus to work!

To sleep, perchance to dream. So wrote the world’s most infamous insomniac, Sir William Shakespeare in Hamlet – though sleep, or rather the lack of it, features throughout his acclaimed works. Minimal sleep may have helped the bard become a prolific playwright, but it also caused huge mental torment, expressed in many of his characters who su er from a range of debilitating issues, be it sleep apnea, nightmares, or chronic insomnia.

We are supposed to spend a third of our lifetime in the land of nod, but in modern times with mobile phones spewing out 24-hour news, unobtainable perfection portrayed via social media and chronic anxiety are all veering to shatter our slumber – as is an unhealthy lifestyle of fast food and inertia.

Charities such as the Sleep Apnoea Trust have clinics across Yorkshire and the demand for treatment is soaring. This is a potentially serious disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts with the main driving force for the condition being obesity.