Exercise

[Lapsedrunner]

A question for those who exercise....do you find it affects your RLS.

I’m trying to get back into running and sometimes find that I get an increase in symptoms (I’m on a small dose of gabapentin at night) when I have been for a run. It feels so unfair!

[Madlegs1]

Some people find exercise triggers their rls, others, the opposite.

It is such an individual thing.

Do you take anything different after or during the exercise, such as energy drink etc?

Most sufferers find gentle stretches, such as ham and glutes, help a lot.

All the best.

[Shumbah in reply to Madlegs1]

Yes it does effect me - I ease into it and keep going . The persistents seems to help plus 3 heat packs at night 2 for legs one under neck

I stop 2 weeks before traveling or ELSE drives me nuts

[Lapsedrunner]

Thanks. No, nothing different after or during and I like to do stretch!

[Parminter]

The general advice from the experts seems to be that one should definitely exercise, but not to extreme, and not late in the day.

So perhaps if you keep your running to early morning, and a moderate distance, you may get all the benefits without the harms.

[Birdman70]

I get RLS in the middle of a stretch, especially the calves and back of hamstrings. I find it weird, because a lot of people state that stretching helps them. Maybe it's miscommunication between the glutamate and GABA neurotransmitters, just like as if I was resting. I have for relief for 4 months straight now, using Passion flower tinture about 10 minutes before laying down. I only take it at night, it recommends twice a day, but I don't to get too tired or something during work, and I rarely have daytime symptoms because I'm always moving. You can get the tinture at health food stores. Also, if your not already doing so, look into magnesium and it's counterparts. D3 and Calcium I believe, but don't quote me on that.

I hope you find releif!!!

[Hidden]

Hi. The only exercises I can do that are beneficial for my RLS are strength ones or spinning class.

One of the things we learned at the AGM is that anaerobic exercise is best for RLS. The reason behind this is that this type of exercise increases muscle mass, which in turn increases dopamine levels.

[Lapsedrunner]

Thanks for your replies. I’m going to keep going and see what pattern forms!

[Hidden in reply to Lapsedrunner]

Good luck!

[Eryl]

I don't run these days, but I cycle a lot. If you avoid energy drinks, I can't see running doing harm, only good. Better still go on a low carb diet. Raised blood sugar is one of the causes of nerve damage which causes rls. Another is toxins like food additives like sorbates (potassium sorbate E202 for me). or natural chemicals I some foods eg alkaloids in nightshades, salicylates, glutamates etc.

Going low carb has other effects for athletes in that sugar creates crosslinks in muscle protein, so your muscles get more elastic on low carb, Blood sugar also causes inflammation so your cardio vascular systems will benefit.

I'm going further and seeing benefits from following loosely to the Wahls Protocol.

[Alex2308]

I go to my gym once a week for 1,5 hours doing just lifting, nothing with legs. And it doesn't affect my RLS (I have usually only one episode at night, 3 minutes on my vibro plate machine and I sleep again till morning). But when I go to a dancing party it usually worsen my RLS to 2-3 episodes that night. Yesterday I went to milonga, danced there for 4 hours straight and consequently had 3 episodes this night. All 3 was successfully shaked off with my vibro plate machine in 3 minutes. Also squats help (one legged squats if you can do more than 50 regular squats like me). Which means that prolonged light weight exercises (like running or dancing) worsen RLS, but heavy lifting with your legs, on the contrary, helps.

[LoisTonya]

I find short walks, short sits alternately generally helps my rls but if I go for a long or challenging walk it gets worse.