Home Remedies for Leg Cramps While Sleeping

Sudden nighttime leg cramps and calf muscle spasms can jolt you out of bed with tremendous pain, so you’ll want to know how to stop the cramp quickly. So, in this article, you will find the most important home remedies for leg cramps while sleeping.

Though nighttime leg cramps can have different causes for different people, most of the ways of stopping them are similar. To relax your leg and stop the muscle from cramping you’re generally going to want to unclench the muscle and then give your body any nutrients or other things it may be lacking.

Not every method of stopping “Charley horses” will work for everyone who tries them, but one or two of the methods below should definitely help you stop your calf from cramping in the middle of the night:

Massage and Stretch Your Leg Muscles

The first thing you should try to stop a leg cramp (after screaming out in pain) is to stretch the muscle and massage out the cramp. You’ll want to curl your toes up and put your heel out and down. If that doesn’t work then you can take the extra step of putting weight on your leg and trying to stand on it. Standing will push your foot perpendicular to your leg and can, in some cases, immediately stop your leg from cramping.

Some people try to knock or punch the muscle cramp out of their calves, but that can sometimes be even more painful and you could bruise yourself. Generally, you want to be gentle with a cramped leg muscle and not hit it hard.

Pinch Your Upper Lip

This is an optional pressure-point trick that seems to help some people with nighttime leg cramps. You can try pinching your upper lip in the dimple below your nose (it’s called the “philtrum”) with your thumb and forefinger. Many people report that tightly squeezing your lip when your leg cramps can provide instant relief. There is supposedly a vein in your upper lip which can serve as a sort of pressure point for relaxing your leg muscles.

Balance Your Nutrients

There are a number of home remedies that tell you to eat or drink something specific when a leg cramp strikes in the middle of the night. Many professionals and leg cramps sufferers suggest drinking or eating something specific as soon as a leg cramp strikes. Here are some of the more common things you can eat or drink to stop a sudden leg cramp:

Water: Some people suggest adding salt to the water because sodium and potassium work together in the body.

Pickle Juice: This is a favorite home remedy that gets rave reviews. It is said to provide “instant” relief from leg cramps in the middle of the night.

Orange Juice: Most orange juices are fortified with vitamins, minerals, and even potassium.

Apple Cider Vinegar with Honey: There is a lot of information about using apple cider vinegar to make leg cramps go away in the homeopathic community.

Tonic Water: From home remedy to science, tonic water contains a chemical known as quinine which can alleviate leg and muscle cramps.

Liquids may be digested a little quicker, but there are, of course, also foods you can eat to quickly put an end to muscle cramps. Here are a few:

Brown Mustard: Many people proclaim that eating a spoonful of brown mustard will instantly stop leg cramps as they are happening.

Banana: Many people keep a banana or other high potassium food near their bed to snack on at night or when a muscle cramp strikes.

Potassium Supplements: Some people report that they get relief by taking potassium supplements to stop sudden Charley horses.

Almost all of these remedies ultimately do one thing: they increase the amount of sodium, potassium, calcium or other minerals and substances in your body very quickly. Since a lack of balanced nutrients is a common cause of leg cramps, it makes sense that boosting your minerals and vitamins quickly will help.

Apply Heat

If your leg is still tight and sore after trying some of these, apply heat while keeping your leg straight and stretched. A hot shower or bath is probably the best and fastest way to warm and relax your leg muscles, though a heating bottle or heating pad will work as well. Another option is to soak a towel in hot water and wrap it around your leg. You’ll want to surround the muscle with heat and massage it gently, working out the cramps and tightness.

If you get frequent leg cramps then you may want to invest in a professional level heating pad. Professional electric heating pads like the Thermosphere Moist Heating Pad have no mess, no water will get warm quickly and can even prevent leg cramps when used before going to bed.

Confused about when to use ice or heat for muscle cramps? There is some disagreement on the subject, even amongst athletic trainers and medical professionals. More people seem to favor applying heat first for a sudden muscle cramp because it helps to relax the muscle and open up the blood vessels in the leg. After the muscle is relaxed some people suggest applying ice to numb the pain, but ice will constrict the blood vessels and could cause some tightening of your leg muscles.

Obviously, it’s better to prevent leg cramps in the first place; sometimes Charley horses strike even when you’ve been careful and done everything you can to prevent them. By remembering some of these methods you may be able to shorten the amount of time your leg cramps or at least reduce the amount of pain you suffer.

Home Remedies for Leg Cramps While Sleeping, Last Updated: 6/3/2018