A Disruptive Condition
Willis-Ekbom disease, otherwise known as restless legs syndrome (RLS), is a disorder that involves tingly, creeping, and crawling sensations and an irresistible urge to move the impacted limb. It typically occurs in the evening while resting, sitting, or sleeping. Needless to say, the syndrome can cause serious and significant sleep issues. Approximately 5-10% of the world population suffers from the condition. While it is unknown why the condition arises, researchers suspect there is a dysregulation of the dopaminergic pathway in the brain at play. Even though the root cause of RLS has not been established, several lifestyle, dietary, and herbal options can help ease symptoms — let’s explore a few of these methods below!
Lifestyle Tips
If you have RLS, a healthy sleep routine is crucial. This includes making sure you maintain a consistent bedtime and wake time in the morning; avoiding electronic screens at least two hours before bed to minimize sleep-disrupting blue light; and keeping distractions in your bedroom to a minimum (televisions, phones, computers, etc.). If you need an extra level of support for a good night’s rest, have a look at our Sleep Blend in the apothecary.
According to the National Institutes of Health, moderate exercise can help to ease restless legs syndrome.4 Likewise, stretching and activities such as pilates can also improve symptoms.5,6 However, do not exercise to the point of causing soreness or pain as this can make RLS worse.
Massage is helpful too. The National Institutes of Health recommends it as a treatment for the condition.4 The benefits are two-fold: relaxing the body for better quality sleep and the release of dopamine.8 Massage also improves circulation, which is a suspected variable with the condition.7
Best Diet for Restless Legs Syndrome
What you eat can have a big impact on the severity of RLS. Michael Roizen, MD suggests loading up on foods that are rich in iron because the condition is often associated with low iron levels. Good choices include spinach, seafood, beans, whole grains, and moderate amounts of grass-fed beef.2
Folate and magnesium may be helpful as well according to a few small studies.3 Focus on dark leafy greens, almonds, lentils, beans, and edamame.
Roizen also recommends avoiding alcoholic drinks and caffeine as both can aggravate the condition and disrupt sleep.
Plant-Based Herbal Relief
Recent research suggests reishi medicinal mushrooms may help alleviate restless legs syndrome. In the study, eighteen patients with primary RLS were given 920 mg of reishi extract per day for two months.1
The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Severity Rating Scale (IRLS) was used to determine the baseline of symptom severity, then again at the one and two month mark, and two weeks after the completion of treatment.
An impressive thirteen patients (72%) reported relief after two months of treatment with reishi. This relief was maintained by eleven patients (61%) in the two weeks following the discontinuation of taking the mushroom. Lead researcher Jean-Marc Bugnicourt noted, “there were no significant differences in demographic, clinical or laboratory variables between responders [patients who reported symptom relief] and non-responders [patients who reported a lack of relief].”
He suspects the antioxidant action of reishi may be the fundamental process that helped to improve RLS symptoms in the study participants and concludes:
“Brain iron deficiency is thought to be the main disease mechanism underlying the symptoms of RLS, together with the autosomal dominant inheritance of genetic factors. The main consequences of brain iron deficiency are likely to be hypoxia, leading to a hyperdopaminergic state with an increase in the synthesis, liberation and turnover of dopamine and (probably) impairments in the descending dopaminergic pathway, and myelin loss and white matter alterations, leading to impaired somatosensory integration. Ingestion of GL might relieve painful symptoms in patients with RLS through its antioxidant capacity.”
Quality Matters: Dual-Extracted, Fruiting Body Reishi
If you would like to try reishi for restless legs syndrome, there are a few points to keep in mind when choosing a product. It is important to note that medicinal mushrooms require double-extraction with both water and alcohol to access the full spectrum of beneficial compounds. At my apothecary, we not only perform this dual-extraction process, we go one step further by utilizing a Spagyric Extraction Method.
With this unique process, the spent herb is processed with pressure and heat to produce a mineral-rich ash that’s derived from the entire plant, lichen, or mushroom. Through this method, the beneficial properties of the herb are fully accessed from the ash and herbal extraction, which creates a tincture that embodies a complete spectrum of medicinal properties, nutrients, and enzymes of the botanical. Instead of simply capturing one aspect of the plant, this process ensures the tincture integrates all the synergistic elements.
But that’s not all. We also only use the fruiting bodies of the medicinal mushroom without fillers or mycelium. The mushrooms are cultivated in a manner that is time and labor-intensive, but that ultimately yields a superior medicinal product. This creates the most potent extract available. Fruiting body extracts contain 30 to 40 percent beta-glucans, compared to mycelium extracts, which typically have only 5 to 7 percent. In short, if you are seeking the most potent medicinal mushroom extract, tinctures that utilize the whole fruiting mushroom body are essential.
WORKS RIGHT AWAY
“Just finished my first bottle [of reishi tincture]. I’m taking it for restless legs. It seems to begin working right away..I sure hope so. They have been aching for years.” -Teresa
Interested in learning more about what sets our medicinal extracts apart? Stop by my apothecary today!
Nicole Apelian
Nicole’s Apothecary Products in this Post
Sleep Blend Tincture
References
- Jean-Marc Bugnicourt, Medicinal Mushroom, Ganoderma Lucidum, Improves Painful Symptoms in Patients with Restless Legs Syndrome, Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology, July 2023. https://www.heraldopenaccess.us/openaccess/medicinal-mushroom-ganoderma-lucidum-improves-painful-symptoms-in-patients-with-restless-legs-syndrome
- “What to Eat If You Have Restless Legs Syndrome”, Cleveland Clinic | Health Essentials, August 30, 2019. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-to-eat-if-you-have-restless-legs-syndrome
- Patrick, L. (2007). Restless legs syndrome: pathophysiology and the role of iron and folate. Alternative medicine review : a journal of clinical therapeutic, 12 2, 101-12 . https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Restless-legs-syndrome%3A-pathophysiology-and-the-of-Patrick/4d16febbe52daf0c75628ca40c0e5dbd1bd71b43?p2df
- “Restless Legs Syndrome” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/restless-legs-syndrome
- Xu, X. M., Liu, Y., Jia, S. Y., Dong, M. X., Cao, D., & Wei, Y. D. (2018). Complementary and alternative therapies for restless legs syndrome: An evidence-based systematic review. Sleep medicine reviews, 38, 158–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2017.06.003
- Aliasgharpour, M., Abbasi, Z., Pedram Razi, S., & Kazemnezhad, A. (2016). The Effect of Stretching Exercises on Severity of Restless Legs Syndrome in Patients on Hemodialysis. Asian journal of sports medicine, 7(2), e31001. https://doi.org/10.5812/asjsm.31001
- Meg Russell, Massage therapy and restless legs syndrome, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 146-150, ISSN 1360-8592, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2006.12.001.
- Mitchell U. H. (2011). Nondrug-related aspect of treating Ekbom disease, formerly known as restless legs syndrome. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 7, 251–257. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S19177
