Legs shaking unconsciously at night

If your legs shake involuntarily when you sleep at night, it is generally caused by physiological reasons, such as excessive exertion during the day. Of course, it may also be caused by other reasons. The more common one is restless legs syndrome, which is a symptom of restless legs movement only when you sleep. At this time, you can go to the hospital for examination.

Legs shaking unconsciously at night

1. Restless Legs Syndrome:

Symptoms that are likely to occur before falling asleep or during sleep are that the legs will keep moving around and you don’t know where to put them, turning left and right, neither straight nor bent. This symptom itself does not affect your physical health, but it will affect the sleep quality of yourself and the person next to you. If it is really bothering, you can use some drugs to control the symptoms. For example, taking a dopamine agonist before going to bed has a good effect, but there is currently no cure.

2. Another reason is due to poor sleep quality:

Sleep is divided into four stages. Stages 1 and 2 are light sleep, and stages 3 and 4 are deep sleep. If you are too stressed or have long-term mental tension and cannot enter deep sleep, the chance of nocturnal muscle cramps will increase. Nocturnal muscle cramps are benign. If they do not cause trouble in life, it is generally not recommended to take medicine. Instead, you should start with the psychological level and lifestyle habits.

diagnosis

Diagnostic criteria: The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) has developed a minimum diagnostic criteria consisting of four symptoms. 1. Abnormal sensation: Due to the indescribable discomfort in the limbs, there is a strong desire to move the limbs, mainly the lower limbs. These abnormal sensations often occur deep in the limbs rather than on the surface, such as the skin. 2. Motor symptoms: The patient cannot fall asleep and keeps moving his limbs to relieve abnormal sensations. The main symptoms are walking back and forth, shaking or flexing and stretching the lower limbs, or tossing and turning in bed. 3. Symptoms worsen during rest and can be temporarily relieved by activity. 4. Symptoms worsen at night and reach a peak late at night. 5. A very unpleasant physical sensation in the gastrocnemius muscle, often accompanied by temporary pain and itching in the leg. 6. Symptoms cannot be explained by medical or psychiatric disorders. 7. Other sleep disorders may exist.