5 things nobody tells you about your legs after 60 (and the one most people ignore)

Your granddaughter wants one more game in the garden. You would love to. But by half past four your legs already feel like they have done a full day, and when you take your shoes off that evening, the marks from your socks are still there an hour later.

Heavy legs by the end of the day. Ankles that have quietly gone up a size by teatime. A vein that was not there last year.

If you answered "yes", to any of these, you are not alone. Most people put it down to age. Keep reading.

Almost everyone does put it down to getting older, and in a sense that is right. What almost nobody is told is that these are common signs of circulation slowing down in the lower leg, and that there is a simple everyday way to support it.

Here is what is actually going on, and the one situation where a sock is not the answer.

Blood reaches your feet easily. Gravity does that for free. Getting it back up is the hard part.

Your calf muscle does most of that work. Every step squeezes the deep veins and pushes blood towards your heart. One-way valves inside the veins stop it falling back between steps.

Those valves wear. When they stop closing cleanly, blood sits in the lower leg for longer than it should and the pressure in the vein rises. Heavy, tired, swollen legs are the result, and it becomes more common with age.

It does not announce itself. It starts as mild swelling, the kind you would not mention to anyone.

Nobody moves through that sequence and notices. You notice the first stage, decide it is your age, and adjust. That is the mechanism by which a manageable problem becomes a serious one, and it is not a failure of character. It is just that the steps are too small to see.

The first stage is the one most people put down to age.

A graduated compression sock is firmest at the ankle and eases as it climbs. That gentle squeeze helps push blood back towards your heart and supports your calf muscles with every step.

Cleveland Clinic vascular specialists say compression socks help circulation, reduce swelling and are safe for most people. Put them on in the morning, before your legs swell, and take them off before bed.

A word of care: a 20-25 mmHg sock is not a treatment for a medical condition or a substitute for your GP. If the skin on your lower legs has changed colour or texture, see a doctor first.

It will not turn back the clock. It can make the ordinary things, like a game in the garden with the grandchildren, feel a little easier.

Walk into a pharmacy and the compression aisle tells you exactly what it thinks of you. Black or nude. One size. Packaging that belongs in a hospital.

There is a practical cost to that, and it is not vanity. A sock you are faintly embarrassed by is a sock you leave in the drawer, and compression only does anything on the days you actually wear it. One customer put it better than I can.

There is a second problem with one size. Calves vary enormously, and a sock that is too tight at the top does the opposite of what compression is for. Two leg sizes is not a luxury feature, it is the difference between a graduated sock and a tourniquet.

Everything above argues for compression. This section argues against it, for a specific group of people, and it is the most important thing on the page.

Compression works by squeezing. If the arteries bringing blood down into your leg are already narrowed, squeezing makes that worse, not better. Cleveland Clinic advises against compression socks if you have severe peripheral artery disease for exactly that reason, and against them if you have severe swelling caused by a condition such as heart failure or kidney disease.

The neuropathy point is the one people underestimate. If you cannot properly feel your feet, you cannot feel a sock that is too tight, and you will not notice it doing damage until there is damage to see. Rates of all of these rise with age, which is precisely why an article aimed at people over 60 has an obligation to say so.

If none of that applies to you, compression is generally well tolerated. If any of it might, the £12.99 is not the question. Ask your GP or practice nurse first.

The most common complaint about compression socks is not that they do not work. It is getting them on. That comes up more than anything else in reviews, and it is worse if your hands or back are not what they were.

That last point matters more than the rest put together. Measure the widest part of your calf and buy to that, not to your shoe size.