RLS Breakthrough Number 5

[davidadill]

When sleeping in a bed, a weighted blanket is useless for me. By keeping a 16 pound weighted blanket on my knees while sitting up I am able to sleep 3-4 hours even when cutting my normal dose of codeine in half. The key is to ensure that the weight forces my feet to the floor, so I make sure that most of my leg is not resting on the couch. When I am awakened, I do 16 minutes of running in place which allows me to sleep another 3-4 hours. The key is to slam my feet to the ground vigorously to stress my legs as much as possible.

[Bumble34]

Interesting, I can see the theory of that, given that relief is obtained by putting a weight /load thru the knees, i.e standing up, I have a weighted blanket, will try tonight.

[Hidden]

I have one of those and interestingly enough, some nights it helps a great deal, while other nights it is a distraction. One issue for me is I am always hot at night so I am usually sleeping "in the altogether" with a light sheet over the bottom half. The blanket is too hot except during those rare winter nights when we get into the 40's F or lower (upper single digits C) at night here in coastal west Florida.

Interestingly enough, I found out from reading that most men tend to lose the majority of their body heat from the waist up while women tend to lose it equally over their entire body surface. That is one of the reasons men go bare-chested when it is hot out or they are working hard. (another fun fact brought to you by my Asperger's :-0)