I recently read that Meghan Markle – now the Duchess of Sussex – usually wears her shoes a size too big. According to one fashion expert, celebs sometimes go up a size or two when they wear heels for a long period of time to avoid swollen feet.

Reportedly, one “trick-of-the-trade is to stuff the toe with padding like tissue or cotton wool, and this can be taken out once they feel they need a bit more room in their shoes.”

But swelling in the feet, ankles and legs – also known as edema or water retention – is also a common problem among us boomers. While many of us may already avoid high heels, we still have to be concerned about swollen feet and ankles.

When we consider that the normal water content in our bodies is between 45 and 55 percent, it’s not at all surprising that this water sometimes pools where it shouldn’t.

As with other aspects of getting older, gravity is not our friend here either since it makes the swelling more noticeable in our lower extremities than it would be, for instance, in our hands.

The Many Causes of Swelling

While there are many things that can make our feet and ankles swell, all of them can be put in to one of three categories.

Everyday Things

The first are things that we do every day – many of which we do without much awareness:

• Sitting or standing too long with or without changing positions.
• Long airplane, or car rides, especially, if we can’t or don’t stretch every now and then.
• Lack of exercise – getting up to walk to the fridge while watching television doesn’t count.
• Hot, humid weather.
• Footwear, including socks, that are too tight.
• Eating too much salty food or adding too much salt to our food.
• Not getting enough nutrients because of poor eating habits.

Medications

Second, there are more than 1,000 different medications that can cause swelling or worsen any swelling we may already have. Some of the more common ones are:

• Calcium channel blockers, such as verapamil and felodipine, used to treat high blood pressure.
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen.
• Some diabetes medications such as thiazolidines (for example, Avandia or Actos).
• Antidepressants, including MAO inhibitors and tricyclics.
• Steroids used to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions.
• Hormones such as those in Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
• Narcotics such as those in pain medications.
• Chemotherapy medications.

Physical Conditions

Third, various physical conditions and diseases can also cause or make swelling worse. At last count, there were over 100, including:

• Heart, liver or kidney problems
• Obesity
• Infections
• Poor circulation in your lower extremities
• Surgery
• Burns (even sun burn if it is severe enough)
• Extracellular water
• Gout
• Insect bites

What We Can Do When We Have Swelling

Independent of what is causing our swelling, there are things we can to reduce it and make ourselves more comfortable. These include:

• Exercising our legs by taking a walk, doing some stretches or knee bends.
• Putting our legs up on a pillow or ottoman.
• Getting a few pairs of support stockings – and wearing them!
• Checking to see how much salt we are eating (read the sodium content of foods) and try to stay below 1,500 mg of sodium a day.
• Getting up and moving around on a plane, or at least doing some isometric exercises, which are usually described in the inflight magazine.
• Losing weight if we need to.
• Trying not to wear tight, constricting socks, pants or shoes.
• Talking with our doctor or pharmacist about any medications we are taking that may cause swelling.
• Drinking plenty of water – though it sounds counterintuitive, staying hydrated actually reduces water retention and swelling.

Be Proactive

While knowing how to treat our swelling is important, it’s even more important to try to get to its root cause so that we can take steps to prevent it rather than just treating its symptoms.

A good first step is talking with our doctor about having our mineral and other nutrient levels checked since any imbalance could trigger or exacerbate water retention and swelling.

Visit Our Doctor

We should also make an appointment to see our doctor as soon as possible if:

• Our swelling is getting worse or is not going away after trying home remedies.
• We are running a temperature, or the swollen areas are red and warm when we touch them.
• We have heart, kidney or liver disease and we start to have swelling.

Go to the ER

And if we have any of the following symptoms, we should get immediate medical attention at the nearest emergency room:

• Swelling in only one leg
• Dizziness, confusion or feeling faint or lightheaded
• Trouble breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain, pressure or tightness in our chest area

While swelling is something most of us need to contend with as boomers, there is a lot we can do to minimize its impact on the quality of our lives. But just remember that while most swelling may be a minor annoyance, it also can signal other health issues. So be sure to get medical help when indicated.

What is your experience with swollen ankles? How often do you have them? What home remedies have worked for you and which haven’t? Have you ever spoken with your health care provider about it? What did they say? Tell us about it. Please join the conversation.

We are well into the new year. Has life already become routine for you? These ultra-cold days of winter can make us feel limited and cooped up.

Don’t forget that life has infinite possibilities! But most of us believe that we don’t have many options available to us. It can be challenging to change the momentum of our life, though there are so many possibilities available to all of us at any moment.

Generally, these possibilities won’t just happen on their own. It’s necessary to hold up your end of the bargain, which means stepping outside of your comfort zone. Can you do that?

Try these ideas and create a new life for yourself:

Create a Compelling Future

A new objective is a great way to move your life in a new direction and create new possibilities. View your life as sacred and give yourself a future that’s worthy of your attention and effort. Create a vision of the future that creates enthusiasm.

What excites you?

What kind of life do you want to life?

Who are you?

Talk to New People

Each new person in your life has the potential to influence you. You never know who will offer you a job, become your best friend, become your partner, introduce you to other amazing people, or teach you something you never knew.

It is always a good practice to smile and say hello!

Take a Trip

Get away from home. Ideally, get out of the country. Different countries and cultures have a different way of doing things. You might gain some insight into a way of life that would work better for you. People that travel a lot have wisdom that homebodies lack.

Establish New Habits and Routines That Create Potential

Think of all the things you could start doing that could change your life.

You could start by eating a healthier diet and exercise. You’ll feel better and will likely lose weight. You might decide that running a marathon isn’t out of the question. You might gain the confidence needed to do other things.

Write in a Journal Each Day

Keeping a gratitude journal is one of the most profound ways to appreciate all of life! It will help you learn more about yourself, providing ways to apply those insights to your life.

Play an Instrument for 30 Minutes Each Day

Are you good at playing an instrument? Don’t make it a stranger! Instead, practice daily. You might even decide you want to join a band!

Work on Your Thinking

We all have limiting beliefs. Think about those things you’d like to do or experience but believe are out of your reach. How did you come to that conclusion? Why do you believe in it?

What are the negative beliefs you have about yourself?

Educate Yourself

When you know more, you can do more. What do you want to know more about? Look at your interests and learn more about those subjects. Maybe you want to learn a new language or how to paint. Maybe you want to learn how to grow your business. Knowledge is power.

Try New Things

You never know for certain if you’ll like something until you try it. Sometimes activities you thought would be just “okay” might turn out to be the best thing you’ve ever done.

Think of all the stories you have heard about people who become exercise addicts, satisfied artists, or thriving entrepreneurs just because they were willing to try something new.

Are you happy with your life? What’s the most exciting change that happened by your choice in the last year? If you have nothing to mention, your life is either spectacular or you’re not taking full advantage of it.

Consider all the possibilities available to you and begin making some changes. The years are passing by, so ensure you’re getting the most out of them.

What new things can you try to make your life richer and more exciting? Are there activities you took on in the past year that you’d like to explore more of? Please share below.

Kristin Cavallari’s Brown Teddy Coat on Instagram

Very Cavallari 2020 Instagram Fashion

Kristin Cavallari’s brown teddy coat on Instagram is giving me all the feels. One of them being warmth and coziness and the other being jealousy knowing that the snow in the background is way more inviting than the snow outside my window. I suppose that doesn’t really matter though because the teddy coat can make anything look good.  The teddy coat, in my opinion, is one of the best trends to hit winter. I happen to have one and it makes having to be outside in the bitter cold not so bad. It is so warm and yet so chic it makes feel like I’m walking the catwalk even though I’m just walking my dog. Or I guess I should say running my dog because she knows no other speed. The neighbors always stare, but I just pretend they’re staring at my teddy coat like I am doing to Kristin’s.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here To Shop Her Max Mara Teddy Coat

Click Here for Additional Stock

Click Here To Shop Her Cougar Fur Boots

Click Here To Shop Her IRO White Fringe Sweater

Click Here for Additional Stock

Click Here To Shop Her L’Agence White Skinny Jeans

Photo Credit: @kristincavallari

Originally posted at: Kristin Cavallari’s Brown Teddy Coat

Long ago I started getting frustrated trying to read the tiny type on some websites. But I wasn’t giving up. Instead, I learned a quick fix that I’ve been using ever since.

How to Make Text Bigger When Viewing a Website with Tiny Type

The quick and dirty fix is the enlarge/shrink function that I can apply to a web page with just a click. I should probably note that this affects everything on the page, not just the text. Here’s how I do it on my laptop, which uses the Windows OS (Operating System):

To make everything on the screen bigger (zoom in), I press the CTRL button and, keeping it held down, I tap the +/= button that sits on the right end of the number row on my keyboard.

Each time I tap that +/= button, the screen enlarges incrementally; the resolution goes from 100% to 110% to 125% to 150% and so on.

When I’m done looking at whatever I’m looking at, I reverse the process by pressing and holding the CTRL button and tapping the _/- button that’s just to the left of the +/= button. Voila; the screen reduces down by the same increments to 100%.

Note: You can shrink a web page down below 100% if you want to. Sometimes I click CTRL and _/- when I want to see more than what’s on the screen at normal size.

Here are the shortcuts to enlarge/reduce the screen rendering for other operating systems:

Make Everything Larger:

Linux: Press Ctrl and +

Mac: Press ⌘ and +

Chrome OS: Press Ctrl and +

Make Everything Smaller:

Linux: Press Ctrl and –

Mac: Press ⌘ and –

Chrome OS: Press Ctrl and –

Making What’s on Your Screen Appear Larger All the Time

If you find that you’d like to permanently employ a zoom effect on your screen, you can change a setting in your browser to make that happen. Here’s how to do that in Chrome:

Step 1:

In the upper right corner of your screen, click on the little column of three dots. This opens a small window showing the Chrome menu.

Step 2:

Near the bottom, click on Settings.

Step 3:

On the next screen, scroll down to the section called Appearance.

Step 4:

Within that section, you’ll see you can change Page Zoom. If you choose that option, you’ll get the same effect as you did with the CTRL +/= function I described above.

This may be just the fix you need, but for many, it’s not a very satisfactory choice, as all the websites you’ll view from that point on will be zoomed in or out according to the choice you made.

Making Text Only Appear Larger All the Time

So, instead, you can choose to change only the size of the fonts (text) that you’ll view on every web page. Here’s how:

Step 1:

Instead of clicking on Page Zoom, click on Font Size. The default font size is Medium.

Step 2:

You can click on the down arrow next to Medium and change it to any of various sizes ranging from very small (9 points) to very large (24 points). Or you can click on the arrow next to Custom on the next line down, which will take you to a new screen.

Step 3:

Here you can use the slider for Font Size to change the size a point at a time. You can also change the font style if you’d like.

I used this feature to enlarge my font size slightly to 18, which worked like a charm, but after a while, I fell out of love with this feature because it sometimes made web pages go off the edge of the screen or it messed up web page layouts.

I changed the font size back to medium and settled for my first fix; using the click-and-zoom feature temporarily when needed.

Problem Reading the Text on Google Calendar

But then I started having trouble reading the text in my Google calendar, no matter what I did. The font used to supply all the details within each calendar listing; location, time, notes, etc. appeared gray instead of black, and I couldn’t see it very well.

Now, I don’t know if Google made a change to the rendering of its calendar, or whether my eyes have simply gotten worse, but who cares. I couldn’t read the words easily and I didn’t want to have to CTRL +/= every time I wanted to read something in my calendar.

Plus, even if I did enlarge the font, it still was gray and difficult to read. So, I dug in and did some research on how to fix it.

What I found were a lot of frustrated folks out there on various support forums complaining about the same thing, and responses from Google team members saying, “We can’t help you with that.”

What the…? Unacceptable. There had to be a fix, somehow.

Chrome Extension “Font Rendering Enhancer” for Font Readability

I dug around in Chrome and eventually found a fix, called “A+ Font Rendering Enhancer.” Here’s how to find and use this cool tool:

Step 1:

In the upper right corner of your screen, click on the little column of three dots to open the Chrome menu.

Step 2:

About three-quarters of the way down that list, click on “More Tools.” A new menu opens up.

Step 3:

Just about in the middle of that menu, you’ll see “Extensions.” Click on that.

Step 4:

Now you’ll see a bunch of rectangles, each of which contains the name of an extension and a snippet of its description. Scroll down until you see a big bold “A+” and the name “Font Rendering Enhancer.” In the lower right corner of the rectangle, you’ll see a white circle with a short gray bar attached to it.

Step 5:

Click on that circle/gray bar and it will turn blue:

If you don’t see Font Rendering Enhancer in your page of extensions, you can find it in the Chrome Web Store. The Font Rendering Enhancer will apply to every website you visit, including, of course, Google Calendar. Voila.

What is your experience with tiny type on websites? Have you used any fix-it tools? Please share! Do you experience other frustrations that keep cropping up on websites you visit? Let’s start a conversation that will benefit the whole Sixty and Me community!

The loss of a mother at a rather early age was very traumatic.

At 17, this is the time you need love, guidance and direction about life and you do not know who to trust. So you must learn to trust yourself and your instincts and in your life decisions – good, bad, right or wrong.

It took me 20 years to get through the grief of the loss of my mother. During this time, I learned to laugh to keep from crying.

I would say that grieving is a very individual process and people need to do whatever works best for them. You must first understand that you have had a loss and that grieving is part of the process. Eventually, one will find that they gain a certain amount of independence and a different identity as a result.

I don’t think that there’s a limit as to how long one should grieve. Each situation is different, but it is important to allow yourself to grieve. No one ever imposed a timetable on my grieving process, but maybe that’s because I never took the time out to actually grieve the loss of my mother.

Dealing With Grief After 60: How to Regain Hope After a Loss

There is a saying that time heals all wounds, but I believe that time alone doesn’t heal anything, it’s what you do with the time that will help you to heal. Time is one of those constants in our lives, but it is an intangible. We cannot see it, hear it, touch it or smell it, but we trust that it is there with us every step of the way. It is not unlike our shadow: always with us.

Time pushes us forward whether we like it or not. We cannot pause it even though when we are grieving, there are many times we will long to do that – just to give ourselves a breather, some relief from the excruciating pain of grief and loss.

Could This Go On Forever?

Initially, after loss, we do not see time as our friend. We may wonder how long we will feel numb, depressed, anguished and in a fog. Could this go on forever? Will there ever be a time when we will feel relief from this aching despair?

But time gives us an opportunity to go through a natural healing process. We pass through invisible stages as we move forward. Sometimes, you might feel like you have a handle on your grief and then a song or a picture, or seeing someone who looks like the one you’ve lost will trigger a deep and abiding sadness. You might even begin to feel that you’ve taken ten steps backwards.

A “New Normal”

However, as time goes on, comfort will come with clarity of mind. As you begin to be able to think more clearly, staying focused on your recovery, you will find that you’re enjoying life more and not just being numb in it. You will eventually begin to get beyond the sad thoughts and embrace your “new normal” as you begin to reawaken and look at life in fresh new ways. Learn more about life after loss here.

One aspect of my recovery, which helped me to move forward, was the fact that I had a diverse community of friends. I had friends of various ages from many cultural backgrounds, and I found this to be critical to my recovery. Because I had managed to cultivate different friendships over the years, I didn’t find myself stuck in place, trying to construct a social life. I’d had one all along that I could now tap into when I needed it the most.

My longtime friends were there with support and love, while my newer friends provided opportunities for me to get out and have fun. Many were full of energy and offered fresh ideas which allowed me to not feel like a dinosaur in the 21^st century. I learned from them as they supported me.

Life After Death

I soon began to see that small flicker of light at the end of the tunnel become larger. Without my noticing, I had begun to feel less numb and more alive. It was a gradual process, but at some point, I began to feel more and more sanguine. In fact, the emptiness I had felt had now become a place of hope and an opportunity to create a new path or “thing” in my life as I began to believe that there could be “life after death.”

The key here is to never give up on yourself. I never gave up on the fact that I could get through the sadness, the crying, the mourning, and the hollow feelings. I could experience life without my life being tinged by sadness. This took many, many, months and years to achieve, but I did it and you can too.

A year or so after my husband passed away, a former colleague of mine lost her husband suddenly. I stopped in to pay my respects and she asked how I’d gotten from the early stages of grief to the present. I told her that I started mourning right away. She wanted to know what she could expect. I asked her how she felt at that moment, just hours since her husband had passed. She said she felt numb, and my reply was that this was stage one.

So here was a woman who was about to grieve consciously, like me. Doing so doesn’t necessarily lessen the grieving time; it just keeps you aware as you begin the grieving journey. When there is that flicker of light at the end of your grief tunnel, you will recognize that as hope.

Have you had to deal with grief or a loss in your life recently? When did you begin to feel hopeful? How has life changed for you since your loss? What is your new normal? What new things have you discovered about yourself since your loss? Please share in the comments below.