For Grandmas about to Rock - We Salute You!

The image of elderly people sitting in their rocking chairs, hanging out on the porch, used to be all over the place.

I don’t see it much anymore.

It’s a shame. Because rocking in a rocking chair appears to actually have health benefits.

Any kind of repetitive movement like rocking can help stimulate the lymphatic system. That’s why it’s a shame so many elder care facilities leave people to lie in beds or sit in recliners without moving.

Moving lymph fluid throughout your body helps remove waste and toxins. It also boosts your immune system. Lymph fluid also improves blood flow, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues.

All that nutrient delivery and toxin removal can help (or harm if impeded) your brain health as well.

We see people with lymph system problems in our assisted living homes from time to time.

Issues with the lymph system can come from:

• Cancer

• Surgery

• Infection

• Trauma

It can also come from being very overweight. The extra fatty tissue affects the lymph flow. Also if the lymph system is impeded, it can cause ‘subcutaneous adipose deposition’.

That’s a fancy medical term for fat cells accumulating under your skin.

Being fat affects your lymph system. If your lymph system is not able to do its job, you accumulate fat cells. It’s a sad cycle that feeds on itself.

The fat under the skin is better that ‘visceral fat’ around your organs. Yet it is still not ideal.

There are three ways to help your lymph system move lymph around your body:

• Exercise

• Lymphatic drainage massage

• Lose weight

That’s pretty much it.

When I see lymph issues with our residents, typically I see the swelling in the legs. Many of the people come to my homes with compression socks on their lower legs.

It doesn’t seem like those socks do much. Maybe they keep the swelling from growing. However, it doesn’t seem to improve with socks alone.

Exercise does seem to help. Even exercise as simple as rocking in a rocking chair. Or walking. Even simple exercises such as neck rotations or deep breathing can stimulate the lymph system.

If you’re not an exercise enthusiast, maybe you want to opt for lymphatic drainage massage?

There are licensed lymphatic drainage massage therapists who can give you a great massage.

You can also massage yourself or a family member. You just want to push on the affected areas and ‘encourage’ the lymph fluid to move to different areas.

There are plenty of YouTube videos also showing you how to do lymphatic massage.

It’s important to concentrate on the lymph nodes concentrated in the armpits, neck and groin. Stimulating those will help encourage better lymph circulation.

There are also compression boots that inflate and deflate to move lymph through your body. Sort of an automated massage.

Whether you do exercise or massage, stimulating the lymph system is a very good thing. Maybe a combination of both? Especially if you see swelling in yourself or your loved one.

So keep on rocking Grandma! We salute you.