Get up and get moving as often as possible. Make an effort to exercise each day for at least 15 minutes. Move around or stretch for at least five minutes for each hour that you're sedentary. Keep your legs uncrossed while you're sitting.
The main cause of heavy legs is generally poor blood circulation. Blood circulation problems generally occur in the lower part of your body, especially your legs. This is because the lower section of your body needs to fight against gravity to transfer the blood back up to your heart.
Therefore, it's important to eat foods rich in vitamin D including, sockeye salmon, egg yolk, canned tuna, swordfish, Swiss cheese, beef liver, yogurt, breakfast cereals, sardines, and margarine, especially when trying to prevent or resolve the feeling of heavy legs.
Elevate your legs
This could help relieve the heavy pressure you feel in your legs that can result in your legs feeling tired. It also helps replenish your legs with fresh blood. While you're at it, wriggle your toes so they can feel more refreshed too.
Limited movement can also cause leg fatigue. People who sit all day or take time off from exercise may experience heaviness in their legs. Resuming activity or taking breaks to stand and walk throughout the day can help.
Leg weakness can result from sciatica, spine conditions, neuromuscular disease, and certain medications. Sudden leg weakness may be a sign of stroke. Call 911 for any sudden muscle weakness, particularly if it occurs with facial drooping, severe headache, or slurred speech.
Walking, stationary cycling and water aerobics are good low-impact options to improve blood flow and leg strength. Try to exercise for 30 minutes five days a week or work your way up to exercising that much.
For muscles to contract properly, they need assistance from essential vitamins and minerals like Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium Chloride, and vitamins like Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Vitamin D and Vitamin K. Each of these nutrients plays a significant role in healthy muscle contraction.
In most cases, heavy legs caused by a vascular disease is a treatable condition. If you follow your doctor's treatment plan, your symptoms will likely improve and may go away altogether. If you have been diagnosed with vascular disease your doctor should monitor you on a regular basis.
At times, however, leg muscles lose some of their strength and the venous system becomes more sluggish, causing heaviness in the legs. Left untreated, the problem can lead to more serious issues, such as varicose veins.
Leg cramps can be caused by a lack of magnesium in the body, and supplementing with magnesium can help to relieve them. Magnesium also helps to regulate nerve and muscle function, and can help to prevent other muscle-related issues such as spasms and twitches.
Leg Pain Could Indicate Vein or Artery Disease
Often, leg pain is misdiagnosed as simply muscle aches or arthritis. The reality is leg pain and cramps may be signs of a more serious underlying disease; therefore, you should discuss your leg challenges with a vascular specialist.
Humans with vitamin D deficiency exhibit muscle pain in muscles at multiple locations. However, the strongest association between vitamin D deficiency and pain is reported to occur in leg muscles (Heidari et al., 2010).
Muscle weakness due to vitamin D deficiency is predominantly of the proximal muscle groups and is manifested by a feeling of heaviness in the legs, tiring easily, and difficulty in mounting stairs and rising from a chair; the deficiency is reversible with supplementation (15–18).
Walking tones your leg and abdominal muscles – and even arm muscles if you pump them as you walk. This increases your range of motion, shifting the pressure and weight from your joints to your muscles.
Weakness in your leg(s) may occur from problems in the nerves and/or muscles in your lower body and is usually treatable. Rarely, the underlying cause may be a serious medical condition requiring immediate medical attention. A feeling of sudden weakness in the legs may be due to nerve and/or muscle dysfunction.
Weak legs are a common problem in seniors because we lose muscle mass as we get older. As we age, we tend to become less active, and this causes a reduction in our muscle strength.
After 3 months, 86% of the patients taking vitamin B had prominent remission of leg cramps, whereas those taking placebo had no significant difference from baseline. Treatment with vitamin B complex significantly reduced the frequency, intensity, and duration of nocturnal leg cramps.
B12 deficiency affects sensory nerve function leading to motor dysfunction, which can cause muscle cramps and weakness.
Leg Pain Can Indicate Risk for a Heart Attack or Stroke
Peripheral artery disease that causes leg pain can be indicative of heart issues. People that have PAD are at a higher risk of having a stroke or heart attack. This could be a sign that the coronary arteries are blocked and the blood flow is reduced.
Although further research is needed on magnesium and muscle cramps, taking 300 mg of magnesium daily may help decrease symptoms.