Running & restless legs

[Nightwalker6]

Hello, just wondering what people’s experience of jogging & RLS is? I have been running for about a year & a half. I am 60. Normal BMI. Don’t smoke or drink.

I haven’t been running every day. Run about 2-5 km, so not too far. Thinking of upping it to run daily & buying a treadmill to facilitate this. Sleep far better when I run in the morning or afternoon. All the research advises against running & intensive aerobic exercise but reading some of it they seem to be talking about relieving symptoms immediately with gentle exercise, yoga, stretching etc.

To me that doesn’t make sense as I get my symptoms at night when I am trying to sleep so not looking to get out of bed & head to the gym! Unfortunately I just don’t like the gym, especially with COVID. I find yoga & Pilates a bit boring. I used to do it every week, but because of the pandemic I lapsed my gym membership.

Yes, I had some muscle pain & restlessness in the evening while watching tv but I slept 8 hours after my run yesterday. I took .6 ml of CBD oil with THC before bed. When I don’t run this isn’t enough to manage my symptoms.Even if I run in the evening it doesn’t affect my sleep as long as it’s at least 2 hours before bed.

So for me I would prefer to run every day, have a massage once or twice a week & sleep well instead of taking opioids which make me sick.

I’m worried that I will damage my joints & that this intervention will stop working just like everything else.

What are other people’s experiences?

[grassgree]

If running was going to aggravate your RLS, you'd feel an increase in pain that night. I don't think there is cause to fear long term muscle or joint damage unless there's another factor going on, something other than RLS. Jogging aggravated my RLS, but every time I jogged, the symptoms increased sharply that night, it didn't take for months. And I suspect I have some peripheral neuropathy in addition to RLS. That doesn't sound like the case for you. I can't think of a reason why you should running--you're getting all kinds of benefits.

[Pte82]

Nightwalker6, your joints can benefit from boron and annatto tocotrienol so your runs will be building you up not tearing you down. Look into Benfotiamine for your RLS. It's a form of thiamine and becomes bioactive with magnesium. Thiamine and magnesium are needed for ATP and thiamine is needed in the process to clear lactic acid from muscles and may offer you relief as it did for my wife.

[WideBody]

I am no expert. I bike (a lot). I found HIIT is supposed to increase adenosine. HIIT workouts turn me into a zombie. I do sleep well after a good HIIT. I have done a lot of long slow distance, that seems to have the opposite effect.

I wouldn’t stop. It sounds like you have a good plan.

[landdebbie]

I'm a distance runner ,I find if I don't run my legs seem worse. I've been injured and only coming back it doesn't make much difference on the distance I run.I don't take any medication for my legs at the moment. We trying the iron supplement route. I'd definitely stick to running if it doesn't affect you.

[Munroist]

Generally I find the more I exercise the worse the RLS but I like the hill walking and cycling so I put up with it. Pacing myself and reducing the intensity of the exercise seems to be better than going hard and really pushing the muscles. The best nights are where I’ve been busy all day with lots of movement but without a dedicated period of exercise e.g. gardening. However the exercise has so many other benefits for the body in terms of circulation, digestion, weight management, maintaining muscle mass, endorphins etc. that I’d recommend you keep up with it if you can. I’m 60 like you with some neuropathy, and I find as long as I listen to my body, maintain good form and keep within 80 -90% of max effort then I don’t tend to get injuries which I can’t afford as they can take a while to heal. I’d keep up the running if it works and just try to avoid injury by good warm ups, pacing, stretching afterwards, good technique and keeping your weight down.

[Marlayna67]

I ran for years. Have had RLS for years. Don't run anymore (sadly) but never noticed a difference one way or the other. I "cured" my RLS through iron supplementation and an occasional Valium at night. I sure miss running though! I say keep on running as long as you can.

[SueJohnson]

I played ice hockey at night when I had RLS symptoms and it never made any difference in my RLS symptoms one way or another. Usually moderate exercise is recommended but everyone is different.

[WideBody in reply to SueJohnson]

You must be Canadian! And bad-a**. Nice.

[SueJohnson in reply to WideBody]

Nope US

[Tanker1]

I am 66 and have PLM with occasional RLS symptoms. My sleep doc recommended moderate exercise and advised against heavy exercise, I’ve ignored this advice because my symptoms do not seem correlated to my level of exercise. I get my best sleep after a long day (> 4 hrs) in the wilderness. Activities include hiking/climbing, canoeing and backcountry skiing. I had a serious knee injury in January and have been able to do nothing except light rehab work. My symptoms have been worse, especially in the month after surgery when my leg was locked in a brace. Needing to move a leg locked in a brace is torture if you have RLS. Please note that everyone is different.

PS: I prefer the listed activities as well as bicycling as running is way to hard on my joints.

PSS: Try cycling instead of running. I find cycling (road and mountain) to therapeutic for my knees.

[SueJohnson in reply to Tanker1]

Are you taking any medications for your PLM? If so what? Have you had your ferritin checked?

[WideBody in reply to Tanker1]

I have PLM and RLS, I responded to iron. Dipyridamole took away my PLM. Side effects are a slight headache. But 95% of my PLM is gone! Even during the day!

[Tanker1 in reply to WideBody]

Very interesting. I think I will ask my neurologist (sleep specialist) about this. Does this drug significantly increase the risk of bleeding (like warfarin for example)? I ask because I am often in the wilderness and don't want additional bleeding risk if I ever get injured a long, long way from medical care.

Sadly, I have not responded to iron even though I got my ferritin level above 100 ng/mL (127 to be exact).

[WideBody in reply to Tanker1]

I took iron every day for a year, got my ferritin up to 207. It did nothing for my RLS, the nurse told me to stop. 18 months later my ferritin was 30. I got an infusion, it saved my life (seriously). Don't give up hope on the iron yet.

If you look into Dipyridamole, it is not being used as a blood thinner, it is not very effective. (It used to be taken with Asprin). The study I read was "Dipyridamole with Asprin was no more effective than Asprin alone. I did get one cut and nothing unusual happened.

Don't give up, you will find your answer!

[Tanker1]

yes and yes.

[RLS789]

Hi Nightwalker,

I have had RLS for about 15yrs I figure have been running since I was 16 now 63, I think if anything running and good physical conditioning should be beneficial to overall body health, I thought at first RLS might have been caused by too much running was one theory I used to have, then theory #2 was maybe it as all the driving I do, and now I dont have a clue , am researching the ferritin/iron implications, its frustrating to be sure but dont give up exercise, I say use it or lose it, you will have to do more reseach, just my 2 cents

[BAK524]

Nightwalker when the pandemic hit, they closed my health club, so I was "forced" to run outside on a hard surface in order to get an aerobic workout. Within weeks my RLS got MUCH worse . I started having symptoms during the daytime when I had never had them that way previously. I've often wondered about why that occurred, and I reasoned that somehow I was compressing nerves somewhere, maybe along my spine?