Restless Legs and Obesity

Yesterday I received an e-mail from a fellow sufferer. He said that he was 20 kilos overweight and that he suffered a lot from restless legs.

He wanted to go on a diet and asked me to send him a comprehensive list of gluten-free foods. His request was preceded by the question whether a particular e-number or glutamate was unfavorable for RLS.

Because I do not have a list of gluten-free products here and I am not an expert in the field of specific e-numbers, I advised him to contact a dietician.

The e-mail gave me the inspiration for this blog. Among other things, I want to talk about the link between restless legs and being overweight.

Gluten and glutamates

First of all, I think it would be good to point out once again that gluten and glutamate are not the same thing.

In a previous blog I wrote that glutamate does not consist of gluten. Products with gluten can also contain glutamate at the same time.

The above-mentioned fellow sufferer hopes that a gluten-free diet may help him get rid of his excess weight. However, you do not necessarily lose weight from gluten-free products. In practice, it turns out that specially developed foods often contain even more sugar than comparable products with gluten.

I suspect that the fellow sufferer actually wants to get less glutamates. With the list he’s looking for, now that I think about it, he probably wants products with no or limited amount of glutamates.

Obesity

Being overweight is sometimes associated with sleeping problems. It also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Poor sleep can cause a disturbed metabolism. Another point is that you may be tempted to eat at night. After all, you’re awake. During the day you also quickly eat a snack more. You feel tired and eating helps you get things done. Time and again, a selection from the refrigerator ultimately results in a few extra pounds under the line. That extra weight is not so easy to get off.

Conversely, being overweight can have a negative effect on your sleep. For example, obese people are more likely to suffer from snoring and sleep apnea. Insomnia is also more common in this group. And so restless legs.

If you are both overweight and have to deal with one or more sleep disorders, you quickly end up in a vicious circle. Because of your overweight, you sleep poorly and too little. Losing weight is extra difficult in those circumstances.

Restless legs

Whether the above-mentioned fellow sufferer first suffered from overweight or first suffered from restless legs, I do not know. It is possible that he can hardly see the two things separately now, because both problems have become chronic.

I wrote back to him that I think it is very good of him that he is working with his weight. Even if you are not overweight, good nutrition is important. The better you take care of yourself, the more resistant you are to the consequences of a complex condition such as RLS.

Whether a diet with little gluten or glutamates is the appropriate approach for this, I dare not say. I would consult a dietician for sound personal advice.

I think it’s important to pay attention to exercise in addition to food. Exercise aids in weight loss and is also beneficial to reduce the symptoms of restless legs.

In addition, I think it makes sense to look at the approach to stress. If you suffer from stress, it is easy to eat too much or unhealthy food again. Experience shows that the RLS also plays up more when you are stressed.

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