I had restless legs syndrome. My (herbalist) wife diagnosed it as a magnesium deficiency. There are a variety of reasons why habitants of western society can be magnesium deficient, which I don't have time to go into here.
Rather than waste time with potentially ineffective dietary supplements, the easiest way to get more magnesium is with a bath of Epsom Salts, which is actually just magnesium phosphate. Run a very hot bath with two cups of epsom salts diluted in it, and plenty of it gets absorbed through your skin.
The first day I tried this, I had the best night's sleep in years!
So in my case, I think her diagnosis was correct, and I took the baths every second night until I felt completely better and my sleeping patterns were back to normal. (My coding concentration improved too.)
ps. If you don't have a full-sized bath tub you can use a bucket and just bathe your feet, though I imagine you won't absorb as much this way. Just make it hot.
Interesting. My family physician also wasn't happy about the restless legs diagnosis from the sleep lab and first wants to test Magnesium and Vitamin B (I went to the sleep lab of my own accord, it was not her recommendation).
Rather than waste time with potentially ineffective dietary supplements, the easiest way to get more magnesium is with a bath of Epsom Salts, which is actually just magnesium phosphate. Run a very hot bath with two cups of epsom salts diluted in it, and plenty of it gets absorbed through your skin.
The first day I tried this, I had the best night's sleep in years!
So in my case, I think her diagnosis was correct, and I took the baths every second night until I felt completely better and my sleeping patterns were back to normal. (My coding concentration improved too.)
ps. If you don't have a full-sized bath tub you can use a bucket and just bathe your feet, though I imagine you won't absorb as much this way. Just make it hot.