Worse after exercise

[Organiker]

My rls is WORSE after exercise. This could be due creatinine in the blood from the breakdown of muscle tissue. Anyone any thoughts?

[Amrob]

I have noticed the same over a period of 20 years. In fact, I just can't do vigorous exercise these days. Moderate exercise earlier seems to be not too bad. For me, walking is fine no matter the pace.

[Amrob]

There are other discussions on RLS and exercise on this forum that may be worth a read.

[Clarina123]

Yes, I agree you can overdo the exercise. In fact some of the best nights sleep I,ve had are after doing nothing all day! Not something that we get the chance to do often! It's finding the happy medium that's so difficult to do. The more tired I am the worse my RLS. It's a vicious circle.

[John_naylor]

I found training for a charity cycle ride impossible! At the RLS UK AGM 3 or 4 years ago a speaker told us that the best time for exercise was 5-7pm and anaerobic was preferable. It seems that our brains fail to ensure that our bodies shut down when we rest at night and we need routine and regular times.

[WideBody]

I get fasciculations after a long (200km) bicycle ride. My RLS seems the same, I am slightly more on edge but a lot more tired.

[Munroist]

Hi, I find intense exercise really exacerbates the RLS, and it seems to relate to DOMs, by which I mean the muscles which feel the most stiffness are also those most twitchy, and I'm often most restless the second night after exercise which is again when DOMs hits. That sounds similar to what you are suggesting but I have no idea what the mechanism is. I was wondering whether it's inflammation after exercise or alternatively I've seen suggestions from other contributors that your nerves can get over excited by intense exercise and maybe are then more susceptible to RLS.

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The simple observation from me and many others is that moderate exercise seems to help most people but anything more strenuous e.g. long distance cycling, running, hillwalking and mountaineering makes it worse. I find cycling is the worst offender, possibly because the muscles are worked very consistently and continuously, while with walking/climbing there's more variety.

However this is mostly speculation as I've not been able to find any clear explanations on mechanisms, or explanation as to why iron or opiates or dopamine agonists can all help in different scenarios. For me I am mostly restless anyway so I just do the exercise and enjoy it, and live with the worse nights. If you find anything I'd be really interested. All the best

[Organiker in reply to Munroist]

Agree with all you say. Many of thanks.

[John_naylor]

Back again! Yesterday I was agreeing that exercise can make RLS unbearable and what do I do? I have to leave my vehicle at the garage and it is too icy to cycle the 5 miles back so I walk home at such a pace that I have the worst attack in years! In such a state that my wife has to cajole me into the bath where I gyrate for an hour until the Tramadol takes effect. Studying bus timetables for the return journey...

[Hidden]

Intense exercise, or maybe even moderate exercise, is supposed to cause a release of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. It sounds like you guys are being flooded with serotonin which we know makes RLS go crazy (ie antidepressants, melatonin). On a positive note, I have read time and time again that intense exercise, especially anaerobic, will eventually up-regulate D2 receptors in the Striatum. And we all need up-regulation of those receptors. In the short-term RLS goes crazy because you are literally antagonizing your dopamine receptors with the intense exercise, but in the long run, you just might be helping your RLS. This article is kind of on point ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[RLSofManyYears]

Yes, my experience has been that intense exercise can make things worse. Sometimes 2-3 days afterwards. I do a lot of hill walking and find that when camping I sleep better but RLS can sometimes kick in more afterwards. However I really enjoy being out and that outweighs a night or two later on.