Have you heard about RLS?
Or maybe you have it and didn’t know it had a name. It’s a common condition that causes significant sleep loss in some people. Vitamin D deficiency is often responsible for aggravating the condition. It’s twice as common in women and gets more prevalent with age. The symptoms include: twitching, throbbing, jerking type sensations in the legs at night, waking one up or stopping them from being able to get to sleep in the first place. There may also be cramping and a general sensation of restlessness or tightness in the legs. These unpleasant feelings may be reduced by shaking or stretching the legs or getting up and walking around the house at night. The condition is a major cause of insomnia and daytime fatigue.
What often helps is
- 1 tsp Magnesium Citrate Powder or 4 Magnesium Chelate capsules
- More salt in food – even take some Himalayan salt in the morning in water
- And surprisingly, a vitamin D deficiency is often the root of the problem – Vitamin D3 Premium helps significantly
A study titled The Effect of Vitamin D Supplements on the Severity of Restless Legs Syndrome was published in the medical journal Sleep & Breathing. The study recruited 12 adults with primary RLS and vitamin D deficiency. All of the study participants initially had blood vitamin D levels <20ng/mL. The average blood level was 9ng/mL. Scary!
They were all given vitamin D supplements to bring their blood level up to 20ng/mL which is still very low!! You want it up around 60 or 70 or even higher. The researchers concluded the study with the following statement: “This study indicates that vitamin D supplementation improves the severity of RLS symptoms and advocates that vitamin D deficiency is conceivably associated with RLS”.
I developed a lovely Vitamin D3 supplement of 5000iu (called Vitamin D3 Premium) – and at 1 a day this should bring up blood levels nicely in a few months. I also have an excellent Magnesium Citrate powder which I love. As well as Magnesium Chelate capsules if you don’t like the powder.
Try these from my online store at https://sallyanncreed.co.za/shop if you are battling with this condition – I’d love to hear how you fared.
Disclaimer
You can simply click on the name of each product mentioned above (in bold) and a hyperlink will take you directly to the product for an easy purchase.
Originally published on https://www.facebook.com/SallyAnnCreedSA/ in 2020.
