Life, people often experience muscle cramps, especially when sleeping at night. Some people think it is due to lack of calcium, while others think it is due to lack of exercise. The pain is unbearable during the attack, and it can wake people up in the middle of the night. It can take a long time to relieve the pain and it can affect sleep. If it happens once, it will often occur during that period of time. So what is going on with this!
The common causes of leg cramps are as follows:
① Cold stimulation from the external environment, such as low room temperature on winter nights, too thin blankets or legs exposed outside the blanket.
② Fatigue, lack of sleep or excessive sleep leading to local accumulation of acidic metabolites can cause muscle spasms. For example, walking or exercising for too long can cause excessive fatigue in the lower limbs or lack of sleep, leading to lactic acid accumulation; excessive sleep and rest can slow down blood circulation and lead to carbon dioxide accumulation, etc.
③ Decrease in estrogen and osteoporosis in elderly women can cause low blood calcium levels, increased muscle stress, and frequent spasms.
④ Poor sleeping posture, such as lying on your back for a long time, causing the blanket to press on the foot, or lying on your stomach for a long time, causing the foot to press against the bed, forcing certain muscles in the calf to be in a relaxed state for a long time, causing "passive contraction" of the muscles.
Leg cramps during sleep are both painful and affect sleep. How can we prevent this from happening?
1. Pay attention to keeping warm when sleeping, especially in winter, to prevent local muscles from getting cold.
2. Do not walk or exercise for too long, and do not let the calf muscles get excessively fatigued.
3. Take calcium supplements appropriately, especially for teenagers in the growth stage. However, calcium supplementation should be based on the true underlying cause of low calcium and targeted treatment, rather than blindly supplementing calcium.
4. Wear comfortable shoes. Flat feet and other physical structural problems make some people more prone to leg cramps. Wearing suitable shoes is one way to compensate for this.
5. Loosen the bedding. When lying on your back, the blanket may press against the feet, causing tension in the calf muscles and sole muscles. Tense muscles are more prone to spasms. Just loosen the bedding a bit.
6. Drink plenty of water. If you have a high level of physical activity and sweat a lot, you need to replenish fluids to avoid dehydration, but do not overdo it. Frequent and frequent cramps may be related to vascular diseases and should be treated by a doctor.
