Why do you get leg cramps at night?
A good night’s sleep is what everyone wants and if something spoils that sleep, it becomes difficult for us. ‘Leg cramps’ at night is one such villain! Almost everyone has experienced a leg cramp while sleeping and can tell how uncomfortable it is. Leg cramps at night are very common and you would always find someone complaining about this. But why do leg cramps occur mostly at night? Let us tell you some reasons.
1 Dehydration
It is one of the most common reasons for leg cramps at night. When your water intake has been low throughout the day, your probability to get leg cramps at night increases manifolds. So make it a point to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day in order to avoid electrolyte imbalance in your body which in turn can trigger leg cramps.
2 Not stretching your muscles
Majority of population nowadays lives a sedentary lifestyle. The job profiles have become such that people just have to sit all day on their chairs and keep working on their computers. This decreases muscle and tendon length and limberness. This may in turn lead to leg cramps at night.
3 A long time spent standing
People who have job profiles that include standing for long hours at a stretch experience leg cramps more. When you’re on your feet but not in motion, blood and water tend to pool in your lower body. This may lead to fluid imbalances, as well as muscle and tendon shortening—all of which could lead to cramping.
4 Tough workouts
If you have spent your gym time in doing something which was very tough and demanding for your muscles, there is a fat chance that you may get a leg cramp at night because according to a study “Skeletal muscle overload and fatigue can prompt muscle cramping locally in the overworked muscle fibers”. These are also called overuse cramps because they happen as a result of overused muscles and tendons.
5 Nutrient deficiency
According to some studies, night time leg cramping also occurs because of calcium, potassium and magnesium imbalances. So people who do not take diet rich in these micro nutrients tend to get night time leg cramps more than those who do.
6 Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a major reason for leg cramps but the good news is that this is temporary. Most women experience leg cramps at night when they are pregnant and this happens because of weight gain, and problem in circulation. This circulation problem is caused by the pressure a growing foetus places on the mother’s blood vessels.
