Lightheaded and now legs feel heavy

I'm a 62 yr old, 6'2", 178 pound married male who is extremely fit. I walk 2-3 miles 4-5 days a week + work on my lower body [stairmaster; elliptical; spinning] and upper body [machines and freeweights] 4 days a week. No belly roll or love handles. Have been doing this for years as has my wife. I'm also very very cautious about what foods I put into my body -- I don't eat any fried foods, no sodas, no table salt [very occasional sea salt on popcorn], nol sugar substitutes or sugar except what I get from light carbos and the ton of fruit that I eat. 4-5  8 oz bottles of water each day. Salad every meal. Olive oil and no other oil. Sitting heart beat of 45. Rarely exceed 110 while exercising. Love peanut butter, wheat bread and have that with milk after exercising. Also eat a ton of other nuts including walnuts. Occasional beef for the protein & to bolster my metabolism and salmon twice a week.

Basically, I eat for my health and not for my ego. I have great genes and want to preserve them as long as possible. Blood pressure depending on time can be as low as 90/60 or as high as 120/90. I chuck those differences up to the taker and believe that something in the middle is more probable.

Problem: When I stand up I'm frequently becoming lightheaded. Began on a once in a while basis but now its increasing in frequency and occasionally my legs feel very heavy while it is happening. It begins in the morning while I am reading my papers and having coffee or tea and then continues throughout the day. It doesn't seem to be food related. Once I fell down when the lightheadness was very strong, but only once and it was not a bad fall.

Question: My wife chalks this up to my Type A+ personality because I am pretty frenetic in my movements. Is she right or is there something else behind this that someone else might have experienced. Don't suggest that I visit a doctor because I won't.

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

The most common reason would be blood pressure which you are monitoring. The other reasons are cold, flu etc which are seasonal.

The other reason is hypoglycemia, you need to take something early after your wake up and do not starve yourself, try a glass of juice.

You need to have your blood tests done, for hemoglobin and for any other problem if this continues. Visit a Physician for examination and also follow up after the tests.

Take care!