4 Things You Can Fix About Your Aging Body...

You can’t turn back time, but you can undo some of the damage done Most of the time, we should hold on to our wallets (and our dignity) when someone tells us we can look and feel younger — unless that someone is Dr. Daniel Neides, medical director of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Neides says “absolutely” we can undo some of the damage done to our bodies by neglect and the passage of time, and not just in the abstract terms of reducing disease risk. Neides believes we can shake off some of the very real ways that we feel age creeping up on us day to day. Here are his answers to four common fiftysomething questions: I used to be able to eat anything. Now I can’t have (onions/garlic/tomatoes/fill in the blank) or acid reflux kicks in and even wakes me up at night. Can I get back to enjoying any kind of food at any time of day? We can absolutely reverse the symptoms that you just described by changing lifestyle. The answer is not taking a proton pump inhibitor, like Prilosec, or an H2 blocker, like Zantac. That’s only minimizing the symptoms. We want to get to the root cause. The major problem that we see with what we call the SAD, the Standard American Diet, is that it’s incredibly pro-inflammatory. We eat food that increases inflammation in the body and causes us to develop diseases — heart disease, vascular disease, dementia, depression. It’s just a recipe for disaster. Our immune system is always on and always fighting. There’s collateral damage associated with this. Over time, we damage the lining of our arteries, the lining of our intestinal tract. The first thing I...

Stretches and Exercises for Tired, Achy Legs...

4 ways to ease leg and knee pain caused by overdoing it Whether you took a longer walk than usual, tried a new exercise or simply spent all day on your feet, achy legs can make your whole body hurt. If the achiness stems from exercise, blame it on micro-tears in the muscle cells themselves, says Irv Rubenstein, an exercise physiologist and founder of S.T.E.P.S., in Nashville, Tenn. The little tears spark an inflammatory process that’s necessary for healing. “It occurs and enables proper reconstruction of the damaged tissue,” Rubenstein says. Another cause of achy legs and knees is the normal aging process. We experience changes in connective tissue (cartilage), which can cause tightness, according to John Fenger, manager of outpatient rehabilitation at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif. However, if your legs cramp up when you’re walking down the street for no obvious reason, it’s time to schedule a doctor’s appointment, Fenger says. “The pain may be due to an occlusion (blockage) or it may be neurological,” he notes. Try hair of the dog. Perform a lower intensity, lower volume (reps, sets) version of the activity that made you sore, suggests Rubenstein. If you usually walk vigorously, slow down your pace and cut down the distance. If your soreness is due to lifting weights, cut the weight or do the move without weight and go with fewer sets and repetitions. In addition, extend your warm-up, suggests Rubenstein, since muscles are not just sore but stiff. “This way, you can be sure you’re pushing blood (and its accompaniment, oxygen) into muscles to speed healing,” he says, while helping the lymphatic system remove the “damaged” tissue and toxins. Break up your workouts throughout the day. To strengthen...

What’s Causing Your Leg Pain, Burning and Numbness?...

Leg discomfort can knock you off your feet for a variety of reasons — but it should never be ignored Aching calves, burning legs, numbness in the feet — pain and discomfort in the lower extremities is a common complaint that sends many of us to our doctors seeking relief. But unless the cause is something obvious, like a fall, pinpointing the source may require some medical detective work. Trying to tough it out, though, will not get you any closer to the answers. “Leg pain that comes on acutely with a bang, is severe and doesn’t resolve within minutes probably needs to be seen right away,” as it could be a sign of a more serious condition, says Dr. Benjamin Wedro, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin and an emergency physician at Gundersen Medical Center in Lacrosse, Wis. “There’s no trophy for suffering.” Here are some of the potential causes of leg and foot pain: Blood Vessel Distress Pain that occurs when walking or exercising may be the result of claudication or decreased blood supply to the legs. This condition is most often a symptom of peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, a narrowing of the arteries that deliver blood to your limbs, typically caused by the buildup of plaque or fatty deposits. Smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity are major risk factors for PAD. “The leg pain from PAD tends to occur when you’re active,” says John Fesperman, a family nurse practitioner at Duke Primary Care in North Carolina. “When you’re active, muscles need more blood. The lack of adequate blood triggers pain, which is known as intermittent claudication. Once you stop moving, the pain usually disappears.” Deep vein thrombosis, or DVT,...