Varicose veins (and the achy, throbbing pain that tends to come with them) are often associated with sitting cross-legged—but this is a total wives’ tale, says John Harris, M.D., vascular surgeon at Stanford Health Care. (To prevent them, you should quit worrying about how you sit—instead, get “regular exercise, avoid long periods of leg dependency, and pick your parents well, as varicose veins are hereditary,” says Harris.)