How do you know that you are edema?

When we gain weight, it is difficult to tell whether it is because we are fat or swollen. If you are fat, you can lose weight by eating less and exercising more. But if it is swollen, the situation will be different.

Everyone has had this experience. When I get up in the morning, my face is swollen like a full moon, and my hands and feet are swollen, so it is difficult to put on even shoes I wear at ordinary times. If the swollen weight increases by 3~4 kg, it is best to go to the hospital.

There are many reasons for body edema, but most of them are due to wrong living habits, and normal blood circulation and metabolism are blocked.

How to judge whether you are swollen or fat?

Zhang Zhidao, chief physician of internal medicine of traditional Chinese medicine, introduced some simple and easy-to-master methods. Press your cheek hard with your thumb for 30 seconds, and after releasing your finger, a depression appears in the pressed part; Living habits such as diet have not changed, abnormal weight increase, or decreased urine output all indicate edema.

Dr. Zhang said that many diseases can cause edema. For example, when you have nephritis, a blood filter called glomerulus in the kidney fails, resulting in decreased urine output and edema. Heart and liver problems may also lead to edema in the body. Therefore, if the body has obvious edema, it must be checked first to rule out organic diseases. Moreover, a lot of edema is a physiological reaction, which can be improved by self-regulation.

Lens 1: Summer is coming and the weather is getting hotter and hotter. It should have been thinner this season, but the calves are thicker than in winter. In the afternoon, my feet were swollen badly. Sitting in the office, my feet will involuntarily want to slip out of my shoes for air.

Expert diagnosis: this is reactive edema. Hot weather will dilate blood vessels on the body surface and increase arterial blood flow. In addition, standing or sitting for a long time, body fluids will penetrate and accumulate in subcutaneous tissue, and edema will often appear in hands and feet. Generally, after summer, edema will subside on its own. This kind of edema is more likely to appear in people who are fat and unwilling to exercise.

Lens 2: I have been shopping for an afternoon on a rest day, and I have already carried a lot of bags on my hands, but my calves and feet begin to feel "tight" and my footsteps become heavy. I sat down to have a rest, and the edema gradually eased and disappeared.

Expert diagnosis: this is postural edema. Standing, walking, squatting or sitting for a long time will hinder the blood return of lower limbs and cause edema. After changing posture for a period of time, edema can be relieved and disappeared by itself. Recent studies have found that when people stand upright, aldosterone secretion in the body increases, which can cause temporary water and sodium retention and edema. Teachers in schools, salespeople in shopping malls and surgeons in hospitals are all high-risk groups for this kind of edema because of their work.

Lens 3: I get up in the morning. My face is full of fat and my eyelids are slightly swollen. I try my best to wash it with cold water and massage it with face-lifting cream. Before going out, I finally "thinned" my face a little.

Expert diagnosis: this is idiopathic edema, which is mostly caused by poor blood circulation and poor metabolic ability. People with this kind of edema often have the following living habits. They are used to drinking a lot of water before going to bed. They usually have a heavy diet and often stay up late, while some people are born with poor metabolism. These factors will prevent the body from discharging excess water, which will stay in capillaries and even seep back into the skin to produce edema.

Lens 4: I like convenience food, pizza and pickled products, but I don't like fresh vegetables and fruits. This eating habit causes edema of lower limbs.

Expert diagnosis: this is edema caused by unbalanced nutrition. We have always emphasized the "low-salt" diet, but we still consume too much salt because of the long-term cooking habits. For example, five fish balls contain 65,438+0 grams of salt. Although seafood is rich in nutrition, it seems to be high in salt because it has been soaked in seawater for a long time. Too much salt will keep water in the body. Coupled with the lack of certain minerals in partial eclipse, it is easy to cause malnutrition edema.

Lens 5: One week or half before menstruation, women always feel that their bodies are much fatter than usual, and their upper eyelids are swollen and shiny, looking like "silkworm babies". Their faces feel tense, their eyelids, ankles, lower limbs and other parts swell, and their weight increases slightly.

Expert diagnosis: this is premenstrual edema. This kind of edema is mostly related to the changes of estrogen in the body before menstruation, which is a normal physiological phenomenon. When menstruation comes, the amount of urination will increase, and the phenomenon of edema will gradually subside. Menopausal women will have similar edema due to changes in hormone levels.

We should correct our living habits.

The body swells because it accumulates unnecessary water. The suitable water content in men should account for 60% of body weight, and women should account for 50%. Under normal circumstances, two-thirds of water in the body is stored in cells. If water leaks from cells and accumulates between cells, the body will swell. If you want to reduce swelling, you should first avoid eating spicy, salty and irritating food.

A situation requiring treatment

A simple way to know the degree of edema is to press the instep or around the ankle. If there are traces on the pressing part, it means that the accumulated water in the body reaches 4 ~ 5L, and the situation is quite serious. Symptoms that need treatment include: eating little but suddenly gaining weight; Weight changes a lot in a day; Decreased urine volume; Need to get up and urinate when sleeping; The ring is clamped; My eyes were swollen in the morning; Leather shoes are tightly clamped; You can't breathe as long as you lie down.

When the above situation occurs, it is best to go to the hospital to check the exact reason. Typical diseases associated with edema include liver disease, heart disease and kidney disease, but they may also be caused by hypothyroidism, pregnancy, nutritional deficiency and menstruation. If only one leg is swollen, it is not a water problem, but a venous thrombosis or lymphatic circulation problem in the leg. In this case, we should be vigilant. Drugs taken can also cause edema. Some anti-inflammatory painkillers that you often take when you have a headache or joint pain will accumulate salt in your body. If you take painkillers for a long time, you may lose the function of your kidneys and cause serious symptoms of body edema. At this time, it can be prevented by stopping taking drugs or switching to other drugs.

The doctor suggested

Dr. Zhang Zhidi said that women are more prone to edema than men. Generally speaking, people who are prone to edema prefer quietness to sports, with slender bones, less muscles and more fear of cold. Experts say that edema can be improved by adjusting lifestyle habits such as diet. Step one: reduce the taste. Some bad eating habits are the main cause of edema. Spicy crab is salty and spicy, which is very enjoyable to eat, but it will make you swollen. You should also eat less sour food with lots of oranges and vinegar. If you want to lose weight, don't go on a diet. It's best to control your diet and increase your exercise. Muscle loss caused by dieting will aggravate edema, and your weak body has no beauty.

Besides, don't be greedy. It is very enjoyable to eat cold drinks and ice cream in summer, but this cold diet will hurt the spleen and stomach, which are the main organs to regulate the function of water and humidity. People with poor spleen and stomach function are prone to edema. Step 2: Eat more diuretics. Doctors don't advocate taking diuretics. In fact, there are many natural foods with diuretic function around us. The representative food for eliminating edema is beans. They have diuretic function and can prevent the accumulation of fat. Barley is not only diuretic, but also helpful for beauty, which can make your skin full of luster. Celery can regulate the physiological cycle and is a rare healthy food for people with irregular menstruation.

Dr. Zhang said that diuretic foods should be selected according to personal physique. People with neutral constitution eat more red beans, rice kernels and winter melon skin, while people with cold constitution eat more dried tangerine peel and ginger skin. The third step: regular excretion. Regular excretion every day will not only excrete the waste in the body, but also excrete the excess water in the body. Usually eat more fiber-rich foods such as vegetables, preferably cooked. Cooked vegetables are good for digestion and excretion. Step 4: Doing more exercise can accelerate the blood circulation in the body and let the wastewater in the body be excreted in time. At the same time, exercise is also conducive to the discharge of sweat, making skin another important channel for wastewater discharge.

Because of gravity, many people's edema appears in the lower body. Taking a bath every day and doing quantitative exercise will help speed up your blood circulation, help sweat and prevent edema. Step 5: Massage your feet frequently, put them above your heart, and gently massage your legs from bottom to top with your palm, starting from the heel, passing through your knees until the inner thigh, and kneading and massaging. Gently rub your hands on your neck, shoulders, arms and waist. Proper massage can also improve muscle tension, accelerate blood circulation and help eliminate edema.