Do another set of stretches before bed if you tend to get cramps while you sleep.įor more information on muscle cramps, check out ' Healing Leg Pain ' a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School. After each workout, stretch out your leg muscles for a few minutes. Prevent tightness by warming up your leg muscles before you work out with some walking in place or a slow jog. Muscles need fluid to contract and relax properly. To avoid leg cramps in the future, drink plenty of fluids before and during exercise. Apply a heating pad or warm wet washcloth to help loosen up the muscle. Massaging or gently stretching the muscle will help it relax. Most cramps will go away on their own within a minutes. Rarely, cramps can signal a problem with the spine, blood vessels, or liver. You should be able to treat a cramp on your own, but see a doctor if your cramps are severe, you get them often, or you have other symptoms (like numbness or weakness) along with them. A temporary hard lump or twitching under the skin.Sudden pain and tightness in a muscle, typically in your calf.Cramps can also be a side effect of medicines like statins, which are used to treat high cholesterol. They can cause sudden, intense pain in the calf or. Older muscles tire more easily, and they become increasingly sensitive to lower fluid volumes in the body. Nocturnal Leg Cramps (NLC) are muscle spasms that occur during the night, usually in the lower legs and feet. Age is another factor, with cramps becoming more frequent in middle age and beyond. The risk of a cramp increases during pregnancy, possibly because of circulatory changes and increased stress on the muscles from a growing belly. A deficiency of electrolytes such as magnesium or potassium in your diet can lead to more frequent cramping, by preventing your muscles from fully relaxing. Muscles that are tired or dehydrated become irritated and are more likely to cramp up. Exercise is a common trigger, especially after you've exercised for a long period of time or in the heat. Sometimes there is no obvious cause for a cramp. A sudden, painful muscle spasm in the leg is called a charley horse, which legend has it is named after baseball player Charlie 'Hoss' Radbourn, who reportedly suffered from frequent cramps back in the 1880s. They can be mild, or intense enough to wake you out of a sound sleep. Cramps can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. A cramp is a sudden, involuntary contraction (tightening) of one of these muscles, typically in your calf. I just go to drift off, and some stupid little twitch snaps me back.The muscles in your legs are made up of bundles of fibers that alternately contract and expand to produce movement. Leg cramps at night typically occur in the. Interestingly, many cases of hamstring cramps are considered idiopathic.

I have no fatigue (beyond not getting sleep) or any pain, and it's not really insomnia because like I said, I'm plenty tired. Some 3 out of 4 ca s es of muscle cramps happen at night during sleep. There is no difference in my strength (I lift three times a week), reflexes, dexterity, etc. It doesn't happen during the day, when I'm active, and only when I'm at rest. It's just one, and like I said, it could be anywhere. They don't hurt, and they're very slight, so I'm not flailing or anything, but I ALWAYS notice them and they keep me from falling asleep.The weird part is, the instant I start to drift off, the twitch happens. They can happen in my arms, back, legs, abdominal area, or wherever. It's not that my body doesn't want to sleep I'm plenty tired, I don't feel anxious or stressed, and the only thing that keeps me from sleeping is these really irritating muscle twitches. Last night was the second night in the past week where I couldn't sleep, and it's really frustrating.

Leg muscles spasm at night