Put RLS to sleep

We all have restless nights; those long nights where you cannot sleep and you just end up staring at the ceiling for hours. Fortunately for most of us, this is a rare occurrence, but there are others out there who suffer from this type of thing daily, or more precisely nightly.

Many people suffer from something called Restless Leg Syndrome, this is where a sufferer’s legs twitch and jerk when they attempt to sleep, which leads to repeated sleepless nights and related mental problems, depression and stress for example.

For those affected, RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) is horrible to live with, as few medical fixes exist, however many natural remedies can be used to minimize the effects of RLS.

• Walking more may not sound like a remedy, but regularly going for long walks will stretch out your leg muscles and relieve excess tension. This method, in addition to reducing the likelihood of attacks from RLS, the walks will help reduce the stress caused by the lack of sleep.

• Quinine, when mixed with tonic water is a great muscle relaxant; however it should be considered a final measure if no other methods work for you as Quinine can produce several severe side effects. If though, you find that no other medication or natural remedy works for you then Quinine acts as a potent relaxant, when taken just before bed.

• Hot and cold compresses will help to relieve tensity in the leg muscles if done before sleeping, allowing for a lower chance of an RLS attack in the night.

• Caffeine in large amounts increases the excess energy levels in the body, when this energy goes unused the body will attempt to expel it at a later time. This can cause regular RLS attacks during the night as your body “cooks” off this excess energy, so an easy way to reduce the chances of RLS attacks is to either cut down on the amount of caffeine you take in or even cut it out completely.

• Many herbal tea also act as natural muscle relaxants, chamomile tea being the most well known of them. There are many others though, Kava, Valerian and Mucuna being a few examples, these teas will naturally calm your nerves and relax your leg muscles.

• Soaking in a bath with Epsom salts before bed will help to increase the amount of magnesium available to the body, which is important in the creation of healthy and unflawed muscle tissue. It is theorised that RLS is caused by flawed muscle tissue agitating the nerve cells nearby. So by increasing the flow of magnesium in the body you can improve the health and quality of some muscle tissues, reducing the chances of RLS attacks.

• Frequent leg massages will soften tenser leg muscles and when combined with muscle relaxants can cause a complete and deep sleep free from RLS attacks.

By using a few of these methods each night before going to sleep you be able to minimize the frequency of which you suffer RLS attacks and increase the amount of sleep your getting. Enjoy the rest!