How to Fight Restless Legs Syndrome

RLS is classified as a sleep disorder since the symptoms are triggered by resting, and as a movement disorder since people are forced to move their legs in order to relieve symptoms. It is, however, best characterized as a neurological sensory disorder with symptoms that are produced from within the brain itself.

- The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

I have to add that I think it’s easy to miss-feel the lack of movement with the tiredness/injury of the muscle.

There are some indicators can help distinguish whether you have RLS or it is something else.

Spending too much time in one position:

Sitting all day, binge-watching Netflix or, even standing for long can lead to this “I need to move NOW” feeling.

I wouldn’t call this RLS, it’s more just your body tells you that certain muscles are getting tight and it’s time to use them. This is especially true when you are used to training often. Your body has a minimal movement demand and with daily exercise, this increases. You just gotta move more.

RLS also can be confused with overtraining or injuries. As I mentioned earlier, when you train hard, blood pulls into the muscles this is what we call the pump -- amazing feeling -- which can stay there for hours, so if you had a session in the late hours it can lead to the feeling of “ I need to stretch them”.

The bigger the muscle, the more blood can be pulled there, and because the legs are the biggest muscle in your body, this feeling can be pretty annoying.

Your calves are also called as the “second heart” of your body because they are so critical in returning blood to the heart.

Follow these drills to avoid Restless nights: