Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a condition in where people have an uncontrollable urge to move their legs to temporarily relieve uncomfortable sensations they experience. It affects people's quality of sleep and is considered a sleep disorder.

RLS mostly affects the legs, but it can also affect other parts of your body such as the arms and torso area of the body. Reportedly the sensations that RLS causes are burning or itching in your body's muscles. Some people will only experience the symptoms of RLS in evening, while others will suffer them throughout the day and night.

RLS can be caused by many things in there is really no specific known cause. However, more research is being conducted. One of the causes is some type of deficiency, which reportedly has been found in 20% of RLS cases while some researchers also found that RLS can be genetic.

Now we'll discuss some symptoms of restless leg syndrome.

As eluded too above, people who suffer from restless leg syndrome have the uncontrollable urge to move because of the sensations mentioned before. That is because the sensations are not common and are hard to describe. When people to try to describe these sensations they use words as "pins and needles", "creeping" and "creepy crawly" and other names. People still involuntarily move their body parts, and uncontrollably even if they experienced no sensation at all.

People who suffer from all RLS usually incorporate movement into their lives to relieve the sensations. While movement is used to relieve the sensations immediately, unfortunately the relief is only temporary, however, it's still a viable method. So for temporary relief for these symptoms you may want to try walking or any physical activity to try to keep the symptoms at bay. On the other a spectrum, relaxation or inactivity may worsen the symptoms. Of course it depends on the sufferer to degree of the symptoms they experience.

The symptoms of RLS usually happen or get worse at night, therefore people have a tough time sleeping and relaxing. This leads to other problems associated with sleep disorder such as anxiety and stress and performance issues.

As of this writing, there hasn't been much research on preventing RLS. However, one known way it can be prevented is to deal with the underlying causes of the symptoms. If you suffer from the symptoms, there are options for treatment. However, you should see your doctor first to try and get a correct diagnosis. Most likely you'll get a physical examination, and hopefully you have a detailed medical history for the doctor to review.

Even though there's not a known sure fire cause for RLS, the good news is that it's being researched more and people are becoming aware. Also, you are empowered to help yourself relieve the symptoms.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. You should consult a physician for medical advisement.