Restless legs syndrome: remedies and solutions

Impossible to sleep! Sleep is a lot, but the legs seem to want to live a life of their own, shake, move: better to get up and stretch them a little.

Restless legs syndrome affects, with greater or lesser intensity, five to ten percent of the population.

It manifests itself as an unpleasant sensation in the lower limbs that pushes to shake the legs. And in fact, it is enough to move them or start walking for the disorder to disappear in a short time, except to recur as soon as you go back to bed.

This sensation is described to many people who suffer from it as a burning, a tingling, an itching, but mostly you feel only an irrepressible need to move.

The cause is generally unknown, so it is defined as an “idiopathic” disorder. On average, however, in 20 percent of cases, it is secondary either to a deficiency of iron (easily verified with a simple blood test), magnesium or vitamins, in particular vitamin B12 and folic acid.

In this case it is easy to remedy it with greater attention to the diet or with simple supplements.

Although its origin is still unknown, it often occurs among the members of the same family, which shows the existence of a genetic component.

According to recent research, it seems that the disorder is linked to an excessive sensitivity of the legs, due in turn to a problem in the metabolism of dopamine, a mediator used by neurons to communicate with each other.

As annoying as it may be, it does not pose a danger to health, although in severe cases it can make it really difficult to enjoy a truly restorative rest and, among men who suffer from it frequently, there is a greater risk of incurring an erection disorder.

It usually makes its onset in middle age, but also affects women during pregnancy. In these cases, however, the disorder disappears after childbirth.

What to do and what to avoid

There is no real therapy of restless legs syndrome. However, you can resort to some measures that usually allow a clear improvement in symptoms.

First of all, you need to reduce stress and help the leg muscles release tension.

During the day you should avoid standing still for many hours in a row and, even if you do work at the desk. It is advisable to get up every now and then to stretch your legs.

It can be useful to do physical activity, preferably in the morning. In the evening you can resort to massages, baths or warm compresses or short gentle stretching exercises. Biofeedback, meditation or yoga techniques can also help.

We must then pay attention to nutrition, following all the recommended dietary prescriptions for sleep disorders, avoiding heavy and too spicy evening meals.

In particular, alcohol and coffee should be avoided, especially in the afternoon or evening: even if apparently coffee relieves the symptoms at the moment, in reality the effect of the drink is to move the onset to a later hour, moreover intensifying them.

It is therefore a good idea to refrain from taking caffeine which, it should be remembered, is also present in tea, chocolate and many carbonated drinks.

It is also good to try to maintain a regular wake sleep rhythm, going to sleep and waking up at the same time, but be careful: some people suffering from this syndrome have benefited from a shift in schedules, going to bed at a later hour to wake up later, so as to still maintain an adequate number of hours of sleep.

In the rare in which the disorder heavily interferes with the possibility of resting and attempts to remedy it with the measures indicated have been ineffective, it is possible to resort, under careful medical supervision, to drugs usually used in the treatment of Parkinson’s and epilepsy.

These, however, in addition to inducing drowsiness, are not without side effects and in a small number of cases, in the long run they can cause a worsening of symptoms.