Causes of Varicose Veins, Definitely Not Crossing Legs

I remember when I was younger, I was kept being told by parents and also friends, not to cross legs after exercising or after a long walk, as this can cause varicose veins. I didn't know how true that was, but I just followed their advice anyway. Oh well, until I read on this health article. Crossing legs does not cause or exacerbate varicose veins.

What is varicose veins? These are veins with weakened walls, which cause them to bulge above our skin surface. And this damage to the wall affects the vein's job of returning blood circulation to our heart. Varicose veins can cause itching, pains, and sometimes eczema and ulcers.

According to Dr Ken Myers, a Melbourne vein expert, crossing legs does not affect the risks of varicose veins or even spider veins (smaller veins). It does not make the varicose veins any worse either.

A study was conducted to look at the risk factors for varicose veins conditions, and none points to crossing legs.

One of the causes of varicose veins is genetics. But many other causes remains unknown yet. An increased pressure in veins is not a cause, according to this study. The study also dismiss the previous beliefs that varicose veins was caused by the backwards pressure of blood in the veins, blowing them up like a balloon. The study concluded that when the damage to the veins is already done, then the back pressure can become a factor, thus is not the initial cause of varicose veins.

Below is the list of myths that was believed to worsen varicose veins:

• Crossing legs, as the pressure in veins is minimal, thus this habit does not worsen the existing condition


• Smoking


• Having high blood pressure


• Wearing heels

The known factors to cause varicose veins condition to worsen is:

• Standing for long period, as it increases pressure on veins and worsen the condition slightly


• Pregnancy, probably due to hormonal changes


• Obesity, no known reason why this worsen the condition

Treatment for varicose veins involving closing off the affected veins by removing and/or letting it absorbed by the body. This can be done by means of surgical or non-surgical. This procedure does not harm circulation because other veins can take over the job of veins that no longer carry blood. But this does not guarantee that other veins will not be affected by varicose veins.

What you can do in the meantime is to wear support stockings, as this reduces swelling nd discomfort. Especially for my preggar friends, do wear support stockings (as your gynae might have suggested to you already)!

We All Can Die From Broken Hearted

It hit me long time ago, as I saw in some families, when one member of the family (be it the parent or the child) died due to some reasons, the other member of family will also die in the following weeks. It occurred to me back then, whether there might be some logical explanation that can justify why the other member of the family can die too? Is it dying because of broken hearted? Because of unbearable grieve and sorrow?

It turned out that this actually has a logical explanation behind it. I saw the news several days ago about dying because of broken hearted.

The fact is, you can die when someone you love dies, especially if the person is your partner or your child. This is due to increased risks of heart attack, according to Dr Thomas Buckley, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Based on their research, the bereaved people experienced:

• psychological symptoms such as anger, depression, anxiety.


• physical symptoms such as reduced sleep, reduced appetite, increase in blood pressure and stress hormones, changes in immune system and blood clotting

The biological risk of heart attack is most intense in the first few weeks after the death of the loved one. But it decreases considerably 3 months after the death, and still continue to reduce down to 6 months (at this point, the researchers stopped measuring).

What's worth noting is that it's not just older people who are at increased risks of a heart attack. Younger people are also at significant high risks of a heart attack.

It is recommended for people to be prepared for death as this seems to be very important. And also having the right social support also helps greatly.

The Making of Fingerprints

As what I understand from reading several pregnancy books, fingerprints are formed during fetal development, when fetus is swimming in the amniotic fluid. That is why there is no identical fingerprints, not even in identical twins.

What get me to think though, why the prints are only formed in the fingers? and not other part of our skin?

In an explanation by anatomist Professor Ian Gibbins from Flinders University, the first signs of patterns on the fingers, palms and soles of the feet appear about 11 to 12 weeks after fertilisation, and the entire pattern of skin ridges is established by early in the fifth month of fetal life.

According to him, fingerprints are not formed by the ebbing and flowing of amniotic fluid. During early fetal development tissue on the fingers, palms and soles of the feet swells to form what are known as volar pads. These volar pads stop to grow when hands and feet continue to grow. As a result, the pads are reabsorbed back into the hand or foot. In this period, the interactions between our outer layer of the skin (epidermis) and the deep layer (dermis) results in ridges on the fingertips and toes. The timing of this process determines whether your dominant fingerprint ridge pattern is a whorl, loop or an arch.

There are complex and subtle genetic codes that produce factors determining which types of things will develop where. Take for instance, skin on our eyelids has different surface patterns than in our hands, different hair types grow on different part of our body, the number of sweat glands vary over our body and between different people. And this explains why fingerprints are only formed on our fingers, as we have differences in the structure of the skin all over our body.

In fact, fingerprints have a very high density of sensory nerve endings, which we use to judge the texture and shape of the objects we touch.

Plants To Clear The Air In Your Office

Looking for something to freshen up the air in your office?

Here is some good news. We may at some relief now, thanks to the research from Plants and Environmental quality Group at the University of Technology in Sydney. Their study has found that plants removed about 70% of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at concentrations above 100ppb from the office air. Volatile Organic Compounds are emitted from certain types of plastic in chairs, furniture and office appliances. Plant metabolism and soil microorganisms are involved in this clearing the air process.

The plants used in this study are common house plants: Howea forsteriana (Kentia palm); Spathiphyllum wallisii var. Petite (Peace Lily); and Dracaena deremensis var. Janet Craig.

So you might want to start looking for these plants to put in your office, for a safer and clearer air to breathe.

Should You Exercise If You Have Back Pain

I have a prolonged and luckily quite mild backpain (unbelievable, I said lucky!). The back pain has been ongoing for quite a while, every day, for the last 4 months. I do not dare to hit the gym as usually I always go for treadmill, and treadmill only. It ain't good for back pain because running causing more strain put on our back. And so, I haven't been exercising at all since I first experience the back pain. However, after reading one of the article about exercise after backpain, it really change my opinion on not taking exercise at all.

Maybe some of you also experience backpain. Most of my friends do. Back pain can easily be caused by as simple as not sitting in the right position for a period of time. Some people will only experience back pain for several days, and then the pain will pass. Some of us, including myself, will still in strife few weeks or months down the road. What important is to avoid the back pain becoming long term.

An Australian trial looked at the role of general exercise supervised by a physiotherapist and advice aimed at a steady return to regular activities and found that they both made a significant difference to pain reduction compared to routine care. The exercises were aimed at fitness and increasing tone rather than focussed on the back specifically.

It's being increasingly recognised that the stability of the back is more than just having strong abdominal or back muscles and that being active has all sorts of benefits including improving your state of mind.

Australian physiotherapists have also pioneered techniques for strengthening what are called your core muscles. These are the ones along the inside of your spine and can be helped by using biofeedback to become more aware of them.

You can also find helf from experienced back physios for this core strengthening.

For Reference
Title: Annals of Internal Medicine
Author: Liset HM et al. Physiotherapist directed exercise, advice or both for sub-acute low back pain.
URL: http://www.annals.org/2007;146:787-796