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Restless Legs Syndrome: Symptoms and Home Remedies

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Written By: Margaret Boyles Contributor

Do you have trouble sleeping at night due to restless legs? Here is a helpful overview of restless legs syndrome (RLS), including symptoms, causes, home remedies and treatments, and information to learn more.

What Is Restless Legs Syndrome?

They arrive soon after you lie down to sleep: strange sensations creeping through your legs. People variously describe the sensations as tugging, pulling, tingling, stinging, throbbing, itching, or aching; others say it feels as if something is crawling or flowing inside their legs.

The sensations produce a near-irresistible urge to get up and move around. This temporarily alleviates the problem, but it returns when you lie back down. It disrupts your sleep and can disturb your sleeping partner.

Called restless legs syndrome (RLS)—or, more formally, Willis-Eckbom disease—the condition is best characterized as a neurological sensory disorder with symptoms that are produced from within the brain itself. Experts say that for most folks, it’s mild and readily self-managed without medical intervention.

However, for some, restless legs syndrome can be severe and disabling (primarily because of long-term sleep deprivation). The lack of sleep can affect concentration and memory, relationships, work productivity, and even anxiety and depression.

What Causes Restless Legs Syndrome?

Although researchers say RLS involves the neurotransmitter dopamine, they don’t understand what causes the condition in most cases. They say it may have a genetic component, may result from iron-deficiency anemia, and may worsen in stressful situations.

As well as iron deficiency, it may be worsened by alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. It may also be triggered by certain prescription drugs (for antinausea, antipsychosis, antidepression) and some over-the-counter medications for colds and allergies that contain older antihistamines such as diphenhydramine.

Sleep deprivation and other sleep conditions like sleep apnea also may aggravate or trigger symptoms in some people.  Reducing or completely eliminating these factors may relieve symptoms.

It can also co-occur with serious medical conditions (including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurological disease such as Parkinson’s disease), which medical experts say should be ruled out when RLS is severe.

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But the same experts stress that while a diagnosis of RLS may accompany a serious disease, it doesn’t imply the presence or impending onset of one.

Restless legs syndrome can affect people of any age. It affects women twice as often as men, and is especially prevalent during pregnancy, though in those cases it typically disappears after the baby is born. Some people experience RLS as a chronic condition, either continuous or intermittent, and for those it tends to worsen with age.

Is Restless Legs Syndrome Underdiagnosed or Overhyped?  

Many websites and print articles describe RLS as common, underdiagnosed, and undertreated, encouraging people who experience the unpleasant condition to seek medical help.

But a 2006 Public Library of Science (PLOS) article, Giving Legs to Restless Legs: A Case Study of How the Media Helps Make People Sick, makes the case that RLS has been overhyped by drug-company marketing campaigns. They write: “For some people, symptoms are severe enough to be disabling. But for many others with milder problems, these ‘symptoms’ are just the transient experiences of everyday life.”

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Non-Drug Therapies for Restless Legs Syndrome

Fortunately, most cases of RLS can be treated with non-drug therapies such as lifestyle changes. Here are some therapies that medical professionals have found helpful with patients:

  • Iron supplementation usually helpful for those who find they have low or low-normal blood tests called ferritin and transferrin saturation. Iron supplements are available over-the-counter. 
  • Cold or heat packs applied to the legs.
  • Moderate daily exercise with special attention to leg-stretching exercises.
  • Stretching/massaging legs and feet after exercise and before going to bed.
  • A cool shower or warm bath before bed.
  • Decreasing the use of alcohol and tobacco. 
  • Foot wraps that put pressure underneath the foot (approved by FDA)
  • Daily meditation, especially a full or shortened version of the body-scan meditation.
  • Good sleep hygiene. 
  • Going to bed later and sleeping later into the morning. For many, the symptoms abate in the morning hours. Get more information on sleep deprivation and sleeping better.
  • Find out how to treat nighttime leg cramps.

As with drug therapy, research hasn’t shown that any of these remedies can prevent or cure restless legs syndrome. But they don’t cost anything to try, and aren’t likely to produce dangerous side effects.

Medical Treatments for Restless Legs Syndrome

In recent years, physicians have begun using a broad array of drugs to treat “moderate-to-severe” RLS.  Both anti-seizure drugs and dopaminergic agents have been approved by the FDA, as well as some more serious drugs. There’s also an FDA-approved prescription medical device that helps some people but can make the condition worse in others.

But relative to drug therapy, researchers say:

  • No single drug works for all people.
  • None offers a cure for restless legs syndrome.
  • Most are recommended for short-term use only.
  • Most have serious side effects.
  • The drugs can be expensive.

Reviewing a study of current drug treatments for RLS, one medical reviewer noted that even though many people taking these drugs experience short-term relief of RLS symptoms, “Up to 25 to 50 percent with even moderate-to-severe and longstanding symptoms stop taking these medications after more than a year due to either side effects or lack of benefit.”

Learn More

We hope this helps you understand the basic symptoms, causes, and non-medical treatments for Restless Legs Syndrome. To dig deeper and learn more about RLS, we refer you to The Mayo Clinic and the NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as well as your own medical professional. To explore treatments, speak to your physician.

Do you have any tips for dealing with restless legs syndrome? Let us know below!

Natural Remedies

About The Author

Margaret Boyles

Margaret Boyles

Contributor

Margaret Boyles is a longtime contributor to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. She wrote for UNH Cooperative Extension, managed NH Outside, and contributes to various media covering environmental and human health issues.

Read more from Margaret Boyles

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Comments

<span>Ruth Long</span> Thu, 12/07/2017 - 14:54
I have suffered as long as I can remember, possibly from age 5 until today with RLS. I have tried most all the remedies listed in these letters. My doctor recently put me on Mirapex, which helped a lot. I have been taking this drug for about 3 yrs. and I find it no longer has an effect on my legs. I do want to mention that for ten yrs. or so, my friend and I tried walking at least 5 nights per week, doing between 2 - 4 miles each night. As long as I was involved with this walking exercise, I was never bothered with RLS. However, once I stopped the walking the RLS was right back again. At age 78, I can no longer walk for exercise, due to other hip and leg problems. If the RLS it too bothersome, I can stand, lean over a table, and swing my legs, trying to exercise them for about 30 mins. for each leg and it does relieve some of the pain. At least I can sleep when I do this. I have always had to sleep with my feet sticking out from under the cover. This has been a very bothersome and painful thing to deal with. I have not tried the Vitamin E but will get some to try. I also suffer with spinal stenosis which limits any strenuous exercise I might be able to do. I take Tramadol and Neurontin every 8 hrs. and this offers what little relief I can really count on at this time, what with other problems with the spine, etc. I hope the medical profession can pinpoint the cause and offer some relief to others for some of these painful problems.
<span>Vicki</span> Thu, 10/18/2018 - 22:09
Have you tried laser institute? I went to their website and am thinking about being evaluated by them and see if they can help. At least go online and look up laserinstitutecom.
<span>Christine</span> Thu, 12/07/2017 - 12:29
I have had RLS since my 20's(I am now 65). At that time I hadn't even heard of Restless legs. I used to lay on my stomach with my feet in the air, tried laying with my feet pressed against the cool bedroom wall, wrapped my feet in cool towels. I read a reader entry in Prevention Magazine that suggested Vitamin E. I started doing that & was amazed at how much that helped. I take a 400iu gel cap about a half hour before going to bed( I bite into the end of the cap to help get the vitamin flowing into my system faster) & it quiets the symptoms. Lately I have also done Magnesium which also helps. If I don't do either & I wake up in the middle of the night & don't want to get up, I'll put some hand lotion on the bottom of my feet & on my ankles & about half way up my legs & the coolness helps ease the symptoms & I can get back to sleep. I leave my feet out from under the blankets. My daughter recently gave me frankincense to roll on the bottom of my feet & that is helping but I haven't used it enough to really tell.
<span>Lisa Sheridan</span> Thu, 12/07/2017 - 09:37
After years of suffering, I tried Cannabis Oil. I get it at Drug Emporium, over-the-counter. It has stopped the sensations and the twitching, muscle spasms, jerking, etc. so that I can sleep better. I have never had a problem with using it, and I am subject to urine analysis every 3 months at the pain management doctor, never had a positive result for THC.
<span>Joseph Mehan</span> Thu, 12/07/2017 - 09:27
I suffered from RLS for years, not knowing what it was. Finally was diagnosed with RLS (which I would have considered a severe case) and started taking Requip. Took it for about a year, since nothing else was suggested. There was a slight improvement. By chance I read a comment in someone's blog about Vitamin B. After talking with my neurologist (who had told me RLS was related to a nerve disorder), I quit the Requip and began taking V-B Complex over-the-counter. The RLS almost immediately subsided. I have been taking it for over 5 years now and the RLS is gone during the day. My wife tells me she can feel my RLS shaking the bed sometimes during the night. The only thing that throws everything off is red wine. So I stick to white. My RLS was always in the right leg. Rarely in both. Last month I began feeling that same RLS tingling symptom in my left leg, without the actual leg-jerking. Two days after it started, the sensation was almost constant. I doubled up on the V-B (one in the am, one in the pm) and the sensation has almost completely disappeared.
<span>Karen Hornsten</span> Thu, 12/07/2017 - 08:55
My RESTLESS LEGS BECAME CHRONIC AND NIGHTLY many years ago. I joined the RLS Foundation and at that time trials for Mirapex were just beginning. I take 2 pills, very low doses at 5 p.m and then again at 8 p.m. or so. This tiny pill had been a lifesaver for me. I have arthritis, disk problems, knee and hip problems, but no RLS, unless I don't take the meds. I am hoping long term use is not causing any side effects.
<span>Maryg</span> Fri, 11/17/2017 - 08:53
For many years, I've been taking 25 mg Lyrica, (as well as Sonata about midnight to knock me out) thinking, 'how much worse my RLS would be if I weren't taking Lyrica' - one night when my RLS was worse, I began taking 50 mgs. of Lyrica. The RLS got much worse. I started putting together 2+2 remembering years ago when I took Benadryl for a sinus problem, I stayed awake all night and it caused severe RLS. I recently mentioned to my neurosurgeon (I've had spinal fusions) that my RLS was getting worse probably from another disc compression, and I had I doubled the Lyrica dose. He said, "RLS has nothing to do w/your disc problems - it's a neurological problem." He said I might try Requip instead and I was willing to try anything . I wasn't able to get the script for Requip for a few days, but that night of my surgeon telling me that, I didn't take the Lyrica. No RLS - same next night and since - no RLS - I never started the Requip. I researched the Requip - definitely for neurological disorders - Parkinson's, etc. - now I'm convinced that taking the Lyrica was just making me worse. Putting it all together, the Benadryl & Lyrica, both work against me. Oh, the years of suffering! I now take a very low dose of a sleeping med ONLY if I cannot get to sleep. I still have no RLS - scripts are NOT a magic pill like we would hope. Another point, one night about a year ago in an extreme fit of RLS, I put a heating pad on my leg and it helped immediately! Now, of course, I don't even need that. Not sure what caused the RLS to start with, but possibly the Benadryl was the beginning of my taking Lyrica, for no reason at all. Now I don't know if I have a neurological problem or not, but at least my RLS has disappeared.
<span>Cajunbelle70663</span> Thu, 11/16/2017 - 19:13
I can’t believe you didn’t mention soap as a home remedy. Use either Ivory or Dove pure original—no perfumes or dyes. Put it in a knee-hi pantyhose and place it in your bed under the fitted sheet near where your feet rest. The hose helps keep ant “crumbles” contained. I read about this in a doctor’s column in a newspaper years ago. He mentioned it a couple of different times as something readers swear by. I decided to try because the most I was out was the price of a bar of soup. It worked for me. Told a friend who suffered so badly that his leg jerks would wake his wife up. On the way home he stopped and got the soap. He said it worked immediately. Now, it doesn’t work for everyone, but why not try? It’s just a bar of soap!
<span>Lois Rankin</span> Tue, 07/09/2019 - 11:41
I have been using the soap for a year and restless leg didn’t bother me. After awhile I had to replace the soap under my sheets once a month. Now I have to replace it every 2-3 days. I’m starting to panic because when RL flares up I have it all night and the soap is not helping as it use to.
<span>Cindi</span> Thu, 11/16/2017 - 17:59
I am 65 years old and began having RLS in my early 30s. Back then it was called 'night legs' and not much info was available. The only way I could relieve the symptoms was in a hot bath. Sometimes I was in the tub at 2 am because that's when the RLS occurred. My PCP tried quinine with no results. He then tried a low does of Xanax and that seemed to work. When Requip came out as a treatment for RLS, we tried it, but it made me so nauseated that I couldn't sleep because of that. So I went back on Xanax and have been on it ever since. I take between .25 and .5 mg every night, depending on the severity. I've tried a lot of the holistic advice without success. My mother has it, my 2 sisters have it, and my daughter has it. I don't know if it's genetic, but it seems to run in the females on my side of the family.