When you are sleeping in the middle of the night, a cramp hits you, and your calves are in pain and you can’t sleep.
Cramps are involuntary muscle contractions that last from a few seconds to a few minutes and are usually accompanied by intense pain. The common causes of cramps include muscle fatigue, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, poor circulation and nerve damage, which is why it is easy to cramp after long hours of exercise, sleeping halfway through the night, or fixing a posture for a long time.
A. Causes of cramps
1, fatigue when exercising
The main reason for cramps during exercise is fatigue. When liver sugar is consumed too fast, such as sprinting, or not replenished, such as running a marathon without timely replenishment of calories, resulting in lack of energy in the muscles, it is easy to cause cramps; secondly, the body will lose water and electrolytes when sweating a lot during exercise, resulting in dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, which also easily causes cramps.
2, bad blood circulation during sleep
Cramps during sleep are mostly related to poor blood circulation. Low temperature will make the blood circulation worse, so the midnight quilt is not covered or cold air, electric fans blowing feet will increase the possibility of cramps; and excessive exercise during the day resulting in muscle fatigue, may also appear in the middle of the night cramps; some elderly people drink too little water, diuretic tea but drink too much, may also be in the middle of the night because the body is relatively dehydrated or electrolyte imbalance and cramps.
3, keep the posture fixed for a long time
The posture is fixed for a long time will also cramp, which is caused by poor local blood circulation and muscle fatigue, which is why the toes will cramp in turn after a day of wearing high heels.
Second, the disease that causes cramps
The vast majority of cramps are benign, but some diseases also tend to cause cramps.
1, the muscles near the fracture will be forced to contract, on the one hand, painful excitement caused by muscle stimulation, on the other hand, the body in order to maintain the stability of the fracture position, the natural formation of the protective mechanism.
2, when the body support system is not stable enough, such as scoliosis or poor posture, may also allow the local muscles to bear too much pressure resulting in fatigue, and may cramp after a long time.
3, sciatica, diabetes-induced neuropathy or other kinds of nerve damage will also be due to abnormal nerve conduction, has been releasing the wrong nerve signals to make the muscle contraction, resulting in cramps.
4, dialysis (hemodialysis) is also prone to cramps, because the general body metabolism is slowly regulated 24 hours, but dialysis patients have to balance the waste produced by the body for 2-3 days in 4 hours, in the case of dramatic changes in the body electrolytes, also prone to cramps.
5, endocrine disorders and abnormal thyroid function may also lead to abnormal electrolyte metabolism triggering cramps.
6. The use of certain drugs may also affect, for example, diuretics may lead to dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities, alcohol withdrawal and sudden discontinuation of some sedative and sleeping drugs may make the originally stable nerves become excited, and cholesterol-lowering drugs may lead to muscle inflammation, etc., which may affect.
Treatment
What are the most likely causes of cramps and how to prevent them?
1.Finger cramps
You can first clench your fist, and then forcefully stretch it, and quickly repeat several times until it recovers.
2, palm cramps
Fingers crossed and clenched, reverse the palm outward, stretch hard to bend backwards, and recover after several movements.
3, toe cramps
Straighten the leg, use the toe of the cramp against the heel of the other foot, lift the foot without cramp, and press the cramped foot backwards as hard as you can.
4.Thigh cramps
Bend your knee, place it in front of your chest, hold your calf with both hands, contract it several times, then straighten your leg, and repeat this several times.