original from Zhejiang · The attending ophthalmologist
Aunt Zhang has always been a person who loves life very much. He is 48 years old this year and is in menopause . In order to have a healthy body, Aunt Zhang fights against the sequelae of sharply reduces estrogens . Recently, has added additional exercise time .
However, in recent days, Aunt Zhang still felt that she had not been able to overcome the menopause hurdle. She always couldn't sleep well at night. Every night, she was woken up by 6 leg cramps . The symptoms were repeated over and over, which also affected Aunt Zhang's husband. The quality of sleep also plummeted, resulting in the two of them being inactive when they went to work the next day.
Aunt Zhang's husband felt that he could not continue like this, so he went to Baidu to get cramps at night. Baidu said that it was because Aunt Zhang calcium deficiency caused , so Aunt Zhang's husband bought a lot of calcium tablets for Aunt Zhang to keep it at home, and told Aunt Zhang to take calcium tablets on time and bask in more sunlight to promote calcium absorption.
symptoms have some relief, but after a few days, I still had cramps every night, and Aunt Zhang finally decided to go to the hospital for a look.
After the doctor checked, he told Aunt Zhang that it was not calcium deficiency, but because Aunt Zhang was in menopause, he should pay attention to the reduction of estrogen at this stage. After all, the absorption of calcium is not as fast as before.
At this stage, there is no need to eat extra calcium tablets to supplement calcium. As long as you eat more dairy products, green vegetables, and soy products to ensure sufficient sun exposure and promote calcium absorption.
Leg cramps may be due to calcium deficiency, but they are not very serious. It may also be due to too much exercise during the exercise these days. It is called Restless Leg Syndrome . You have recently tried to reduce the amount of exercise appropriately to see if the symptoms have been relieved.
If you feel discomfort in your body, we should go to the doctor as soon as possible, instead of Baidu . Aunt Zhang's condition is still relatively good this time, she just took some calcium tablets. If we took some so-called folk remedies during Baidu, it may also cause harm to our bodies.
Why is Aunt Zhang’s husband, Baidu, the reason why Aunt Zhang’s leg cramps at night is calcium deficiency? In fact, there is no reason at all.
1. Is the cause of leg cramps at night due to calcium deficiency or is there another reason?
Cramps are what we usually call ordinary people. The scientific name of cramps is Muscle spasm , leg cramps . Most of the time occurs in the calf. There is severe muscle pain in the calf during attack. You can also see a lump of muscle bulge on the calf.
The muscles attached to our bones are called random muscles , which are dominated by our conscious sense. When legs cramp, it is because the skeletal muscles cannot be controlled by our conscious sense, and they contract at will, causing leg cramps.
Aunt Zhang’s husband thought that Aunt Zhang’s leg cramps were caused by calcium deficiency, which was not completely unreasonable.
controls our skeletal muscle autonomous contraction mainly uses energy mainly provided by calcium. If the normal intake of calcium cannot be guaranteed, it will lead to calcium deficiency, which will lead to failure of our autonomic nerves to control skeletal muscles, and eventually lead to leg cramps.
Of course, a normal diet can ensure that we have sufficient calcium. does not require additional calcium supplementation , but for example, when Aunt Zhang is in menopause, the estrogen is greatly reduced, and the transfer of calcium is reduced, which will lead to calcium deficiency. It is because of this that Aunt Zhang's husband thinks that Aunt Zhang's leg cramps are caused by calcium deficiency.
But in addition to this, there are the following aspects of leg cramps. We cannot understand the disease as simply as Aunt Zhang’s husband. We must also look at the disease from different aspects and treat the primary disease in a timely manner.
1. The causes of sleeping posture
Some people have wrong posture when sleeping, or sleeping on the side, which leads to a long time of compression of the foot, and the blood flow of the foot is not smooth. Insufficient arterial blood supply will lead to the inability to deliver enough nutrients and oxygen in time to ensure that we control the neurotrophic and oxygen supply of the muscles of the foot.
The stimulation intensity of the nerve is weakened, and the function of muscle self-control is strengthened, which will lead to the increased excitability of the muscles not controlled by the nerves, and will also lead to the state of spasm of the muscles on the feet.
Some people are not honest when sleeping, always move around, and do not pay attention to keeping their lower limbs warm. After catching a cold, the blood supply on their feet is not in time , which can also cause muscle cramps on their feet.
2, arteriosclerosis in the lower limbs
Arteriosclerosis in the lower limbs is a relatively common disease. Some elderly people often have chronic diseases such as hypertension and , hyperlipidemia, etc. Long-term arteriosclerosis will lead to symptoms such as blood vessel blockage.
secondary to lower limb atherosclerosis after hypertension , mainly atherosclerosis. After strenuous exercise or stimulation, it will cause plaques in the sclerotic artery to fall off, and eventually cause blood vessel blockage, resulting in ischemia of foot muscles .
The muscles are insufficient in blood transport and lack of nutrition, which in turn causes the nerve to control the muscles. The muscles cannot sense the signals sent by the nerves in time, and leg cramps occur.
The clinical manifestations of lower limb arteriosclerosis are mainly manifestations of lameness when walking, and foot pain is felt for a long time. The position is mainly in the calf, which can be relieved after rest. Many elderly people think it is caused by sciatica , and they are not treated in time, which leads to worsening of the symptoms of the disease.
However, some people have foot pain when they occur after resting at night, mainly because after resting, our muscles will be in a resting state, the blood flow rate will also slow down, and the arteries transport a large amount of nutrients and oxygen.
After the blood flow rate slows down, the muscles will experience an hypoxia state, which will also cause spasms of the muscles in .
3, Lumbar disc herniation
There are many people who need to work hard for a long time, and some people who have suffered trauma in the waist. If they are not treated for a long time, they will lead to symptoms such as lumbar disc herniation. Complications of lumbar disc herniation will also cause leg cramps.
is mainly because the spine contains a lot of nerves. After the lumbar disc herniation hindrance compresses our neural tissue , and neural tissue that controls the muscles of the foot are compressed by , which may cause leg cramps.
When the body appears different from before, if it is due to physiological reasons, we can change the status quo by changing our views, but like leg cramps, we need to actively treat certain functions of the body.
Leg cramps are caused by the above situations. Of course, it may also be caused by leg cramps after a lot of exercise. After a lot of exercise, in addition to leg cramps, there will also be the same restless leg syndrome as Aunt Zhang. We should timely distinguish the symptoms of restless leg and leg cramps.
2. The difference between restless legs and leg cramps
Restless legs and leg cramps are both discomforts in the feet. The time when both appear is when we are resting. Severe difficulties will affect our lives, but there are still differences in the specific symptoms of the attacks between the two.
Restless legs are also called Willis-Ebom disease . The main symptom is that when our feet are in a quiet state, the legs will feel sore and soft, but when we perform appropriate foot exercises, the symptoms of restless legs will disappear.
As As the age of , this symptom of restless legs will continue to aggravate . Like leg cramps, it will interfere with our sleep. Long-term sleep disorder will affect our mental state the next day, resulting in mental insufficiency.
The main reason for restless legs may be due to the inheritance of . It may be related to genes. It may also be that when is pregnant with , the uterus enlarges and compresses certain nerve tissues, which eventually leads to the nerves that innervate the muscles of the foot in a state of numbness for a long time, and symptoms of restless legs appear.
Aunt Zhang in the above article has restless legs syndrome, not a simple leg cramp. It is caused by Aunt Zhang's high-intensity exercise during the day. After reducing the amount of exercise during the day, the symptoms of restless legs can be relieved after proper rest.
Any normal activity that does not belong to our body will have a certain impact on our lives. Although the symptoms of leg cramps do not persist and do not cause pain in the muscles in our legs, they will also affect our lives over time.
3. Relieving cramps
Take corresponding measures to the causes of cramps to relieve the symptoms of cramps.
1) Maintain a balanced nutrition intake
One of the reasons for cramps is due to calcium deficiency, so we should supplement calcium appropriately. Usually, our food contains enough trace elements to ensure that our body needs it.
Eat more vegetables and fruits, and then bask in the sun more to promote calcium absorption. Eating vegetables to ensure vitamin C can also promote calcium absorption.
2) Pay attention to keeping warm
especially when the autumn and winter changes. In order to pursue fashion, some people do not add clothes and keep warm in time, resulting in the failure of blood supply to the feet, which will cause leg cramps to be caused. Keep warm in time to ensure sufficient blood flow on the feet and avoid leg cramps.
3) Actively treat the primary disease
Leg cramps may also be secondary to certain diseases. If lumbar disc herniation is ill, actively treat it to avoid long-term nerve involvement, resulting in symptoms of leg cramps.
In addition to these, we also need to exercise appropriately. After vigorous exercise, we should relax the muscles on our feet, etc.
Leg cramps when sleeping at night may be due to nerve compression and insufficient blood supply. We must determine the cause in time and provide corresponding treatment. After a lot of exercise, relax the foot muscles in time to prevent leg cramps. We all understand the principle of "disgusting and avoiding disease doctors", but when the disease occurs, we still need to seek professional treatment from doctors as soon as possible. Isn't there another saying, is early diagnosis, early treatment !
References:
[1] "What is a restless leg" Mou Jingyu 2022-4-25
[2] "How to relieve leg cramps" Puli 2015-8-7
