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	The South Florida Vein Institute recommends that the best way to get temporary relief of your symptoms is to preserve an active lifestyle. Since the causes of venous disease are still undetermined, prevention of varicose veins is debatable. However, some tips that may help in the prevention include: • Elevate your legs, ensuring to keep your feet positioned higher than heart level. • Exercise daily. Walking, cycling and swimming keep your calf muscles in active range of motion to activate the calf muscle pump. Subsequently, this reduces pooling and pressure in the veins. • Move your legs frequently. Flexing your ankles periodically will pump the blood out of your legs (simulating walking). Try to avoid sitting for extended periods throughout your day. • Support compression hose. These provide external graduated counter-pressure to aid in venous blood flow to the heart. Compression Hosiery reduces pooling and pressure in the veins. • Maintain your ideal body weight. • Avoid prolonged sitting and standing. On long car or plane trips activate your calf muscle pump by moving your feet up and down frequently as described above. You should also consider stopping for short walks every few hours. • Avoid excessive heat on your legs, such as hot tubs and hot baths. Heat will tend to increase vein distention and lead to more pooling of blood. • Evaluation. Talk to your doctor about your lifestyle, and ways to better cope with the degree of venous disease involved.