My second restless legs breakthrough came as a result of a 12 hour trip from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Before I sold my house, every night I used to climb 16 stairs up and down between the 1st floor and the 2nd floor 2 at a time. I would do this 4 times just before going to bed and I would almost always sleep at least 4-5 hours before my legs would bother me. As you may know, sleeping at least 4-5 hours is critical in order for the brain to delete the beta amyloids. Getting rid of beta amyloids each night is important to prevent dementia. Since moving to an apartment I was not able to do that and I would instead just climb stairs during the middle of the day and would not be able to sleep more than 2 hours before my legs would get me up.
Connecting this with climbing stairs didn't occur to me, but when I got home at midnight from the trip to Georgia I decided to climb the stairs just before going to bed. As a result I was able to sleep 7 hours that night rather than just 2 hours. Now I don't suggest that any of you try to go up 104 stairs 2 at a time the first time you try it because it could be painful to you. For example, I first tried doing deep knee bends a decade ago at age 59 because I heard that deep knee bends were very healthy. So I tried it 10 times and it seemed fine, but for the next 3 days my legs were in agony. So I think it's important to start something like this slowly and then increase it as time goes on. The other key thing about me, for example, is that when I go up and down the stairs 2 at a time these are 7 inch steps. When I try to do this with 8 inch steps it is very difficult for me, so I look for 7 inch steps.
The other key thing is that while going upstairs and especially going downstairs it's important to hold onto a railing. Stairs are the most dangerous place in any house. It's also important to not be drunk when you're doing this because your risk of falling would be greatly increased in that case. Of course, if I have caffeine within six hours before going to bed I will not be able to sleep for four to five hours because caffeine affects me significantly. So I always eat my ice cream by 2-3 o'clock in the afternoon rather than eating it after dinner. So I hope some of you will try this and as I said start out slowly. Maybe you only want to go up 8 steps to at a time the first night then 10 steps and then 12 steps. Just keep adding each day or maybe each week. Now last night I went up 138 steps 2 at a time and I was able to sleep 5 1/2 hours. So I don't know if it's just 100 steps 2 at a time or it is 138 steps, or what number might be best for you, but the exercise is good in any case. To be honest, perhaps going up the stairs 1 at a time might be just as effective, but I have not tried that.
Note: this only works if I have not taken significant caffeine in the last 6 hours.
breakthrough with meds and Rls
2 year old Toddler with RLS
2 months of RLS and Alpha Lipoic Acid worked last night
RLS for over 2 decades now. Nights have been a living hell.
