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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Does restless legs syndrome affect you more when you are awake or asleep?

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    Neurology Restless Legs Syndrome
    • 1 answer
    • Sleep Health Foundation
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    Sleep Health Foundation

    The Sleep Health Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of ‘valuing sleep’ as part of a healthy lifestyle alongside regular exercise, a … View Profile

    Leg movements during the day, and leg movements at night whilst you are sleeping are both quite common. During the day when you have awareness, you may feel the desire to move your legs, or have a difficult-to-describe ‘uncomfortable’ feeling. Really bad and distressing symptoms are not common. However a large minority of individuals will admit to having some discomfort with legs, or a degree of restlessness, at some time.
     
    On the other hand leg movements at night are very common. They can make people uncomfortable when they are lying down at night so that they have difficulty falling asleep, or they may disturb sleep to the point where people can't stay asleep, or provide a low-grade restlessness. Many people are unaware of this. Many people may have leg movements at night, but have no symptoms during the day.
     
    So the answer to the question depends on what it is that is annoying you, is it during the day, or is your sleep broken?
     
    In general we see people with abnormal amounts of leg movements at night far more often than we see people complaining of restless legs during the day! For more information on Restless Leg syndrome click here.

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