What Is Restless Legs Syndrome?

Restless Legs Syndrome is also known as Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome and Nocturnal Mycolnus. It is believed to affect as much as 5-10% of the population world wide. It affects all demographics and age groups from infants to the elderly.

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In most reported cases, RLS gets worse as you age.

There is no known cure for RLS, only various methods to cope with it.

There is also no known cause for RLS although there are a few common theories available. Many doctors believe that it is a neurological disorder (from Wikipedia: Neurological disorders are disorders that affect the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the peripheral nervous system (peripheral nerves) or the autonomic nervous system).

Still other doctors and researchers believe that RLS is due to an iron deficiency or inadequate vitamin and mineral intake or folate (green leafy vegetable) intake. From personal experience, I know that my iron levels are fine but my vitamin and mineral intake can use some improvement.

These however are only theories as there is no accepted cause of Restless Legs Syndrome.

Diagnosing RLS is very anecdotal but also quite simple. You may never have heard of it but chances are that if you have it you are intimately familiar with the symptoms. People who have RLS (including me) describe it as an uncontrollable urge to move their legs. This urge comes typically at rest and worsens in the evening and right before bed. It is next to impossible to resist this urge to move the legs. Once the sufferer gets up and walks around, the uncomfortable feelings instantly disappear.

So the solution seems simple, get up and move around. That is easy enough. The trouble comes because the symptoms of RLS typically do not abate until the early hours of the morning. Essentially, for this to be effective you would have to walk around all night until the symptoms go away. This might even be a good strategy for those whose RLS is not serious but it is obviously a poor strategy for those affected night after night.

This is the reason that RLS can be such a serious condition. RLS and the associated limb movements (Periodic Limb Movements or PLM's) can prevent the suffer from entering the deeper more restorative stages of sleep. Compounded night after night that sleep deficit can take it's toll on the sufferer in the form of anxiety, weight gain, depression and chronic fatigue. In other words, RLS can spill over and negatively affect every aspect of your life.

It is important to note that not all people who have RLS also have PLM's and vice versa. However, these are the exceptions rather than the rule. The majority of RLS sufferers also have PLM's during sleep.

A typical RLS sufferer may go years not realizing that he has a sleep disorder. He might feel tired everyday but society's response is typically to suck it up. The associated fatigue may lead to depression, over eating and weight gain. The weight gain may then lead to sleep apnea which could lead to heart attack, stroke or diabetes. Not to say that every RLS victim will follow this path but it is just an example to show how something the sufferer isn't even aware of can snowball.