Written by Editorial Team
Come pregnancy, you bid a tearful good bye to a good night’s sleep. And it is a good bye for a very long time, because after delivery, your chances of a good sleep would become even less probable. Most of your friends would advise you to “sleep as much as possible” during pregnancy because after the baby you virtually get no sleep. Easily said than done, though. Throughout your pregnancy, you might find it difficult to sleep, thanks to heartburn, multiple pee breaks, a bulging stomach that makes no position comfortable to sleep in and so on. And come third trimester, you get an additional discomfort to add to that list – restless leg syndrome or RLS. About 15% to 30% of all pregnant women complain of it during pregnancies.
Restless leg syndrome or RLS refers to an uncomfortable sensation you feel in your leg during your sleep. The sensation can be itching, burning, tingling and so on. Some women even say it feels like something was crawling on their legs. The sensation gives you a strong urge to move your leg (hence the term “restless”) and once you move the leg, the sensation goes away. But alas, by then you are awake! The sensation comes back multiple times during the night, thereby ensuring you do not get proper sleep. And this, usually, makes you very tired, sleepy and irritable during the day. Especially because RLS appears almost every night in the last leg of your pregnancy.
Symptoms of restless leg syndrome could also be observed during long sitting hours like a long travel or a movie time. Though these sensations are mostly felt in the lower legs, you could also feel them developing in the f eet, thighs, arms, or hands as well. The symptoms will be at their worse during the 7th or 8th month of pregnancy, and should disappear soon after the delivery.
No one appears to have reached a consensus on what causes this restless leg syndrome. There are multiple possibilities, according to experts:
The good news is that restless leg syndrome is temporary. It usually disappears after you have given birth! But meanwhile:
There are few ways to manage RLS and make it easier for you to sleep. Hope the following tips help:
Here is hoping you get some good sleep before your bundle of joy turns you into a temporary insomniac!
Have a safe and healthy pregnancy.
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