Where is your second heart?

You have heard of the gut-brain axis and the idea that the gut and digestion are your second brain.

Your calves, meaning the muscles in your calves (that's the back of your legs, below the knees) are your second heart. They have veins that work one way to push the blood back up, and towards your heart.

Now your heart pumps your blood throughout the whole body. It's the main "engine" for your circulatory system, pushing blood to all the places in you. But your feet and your legs, they are down where the gravity is pulling on that blood flow, and where it can pool or swell. And that's not good.

Your calf muscles work to prevent that pooling from happening, with these valves that take the blood and push it back up, to be part of the circulatory system. And you help that process be successful when you are using those calf muscles and keeping them healthy!

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​Some of the ways we do that are by walking, and that's one of the many reasons that walking is such an important part of your health routine. But, you can also do some pumping by rolling up on your toes and then pressing the heel down into the floor. Kind of like a bop motion, up and down and up and down, when you are dancing.

​You can also add to it when you are seated, by picking your legs up, dangling your feet off the ground, then pressing back to the floor.  Both feet at the same time or one at a time, just remember to do both legs.  Stomping works too, even jumping up and down, skipping, or hopping.  

The important thing is that you make sure you have that motion happening, and keep those muscles and veins healthy - it truly is part of your heart health success journey.  

How about a game of hopscotch? 

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