How to treat a muscle spasm? What are these weird contractions that happen as soon as you fall asleep? Learn the truth and get rid of them!
A muscle spasm or cramp or Charley Horse, is a sudden, weird and sometimes painful muscle contraction that usually happens at night. It mostly affects your leg muscles, but the location of the contraction can vary.
Interestingly, these contractions happen as soon as you fall asleep, or when your body relaxes. However, it can happen during the night as well, although you’re long asleep.
These contractions can last from one second to several minutes, but they definitely ruin your night sleep and scare the hell out of you!
Stress is what usually causes the contraction. When you’re under a lot of stress, your muscles are tight and the minute you relax, they react.
However, these are many health conditions that relate to these contractions. The muscle spasm can indicate parathyroid condition, hypothyroidism, diabetes or some entirely different health condition. If the contractions become severe and constant, you’ll need to contact your doctor.
In the meantime, you could use our advice and try these techniques that we prepared for you on how to treat a muscle spasm.
How to treat a muscle spasm?
As mentioned, stress usually causes a muscle spasm, so try finding a way to relieve stress before going to bed. Your muscles are tense when you’re stressed, so you’ll need to relax them. A good solution would be doing some light exercise or just stretch before tucking in bed.
Also, try staying hydrated during the day. Your muscles contract and stay relaxed when they get enough water. They especially need water when you’re being active throughout the day.
In addition, the wrong shoes can also cause these contractions. When you’re wearing uncomfortable shoes, your muscles are tight and tense and cannot get the proper space for them to stretch and contract in the right way. On the other hand, when your shoes are super comfy, your muscles won’t be under pressure and won’t misbehave when you’re relaxed.
Furthermore, a hot shower before going to sleep is always a great idea. Applying heat on your muscles reduces the tenderness and the tension, and relaxes your muscles.
Finally, at that precise moment when you’re having a muscle spasm, rub the place gently or ask your partner to give you a short massage if you cannot reach the place of the contraction. A massage is always beneficial.
Hopefully, we’ve helped you learn how to treat a muscle spasm. If you follow our advice, you should expect no more spasms. However, if they continue, you should know that it’s time to pay your doctor a visit.