Muscle cramps – Causes, symptoms, and treatment.
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Is that muscle cramp keeping you up at night? Yes, we understand that it can be painful at times. But, don’t let those muscle cramps drag you down! Muscle cramps are extremely common and most of them occur in the leg, particularly calf and thigh muscles.
Your muscles contract and relax all the time. They work in conjunction with your bones, in a highly coordinated way, to help you achieve a vast variety of movements. You get muscle cramps when one of these muscles contracts suddenly, giving you that shooting pain, that lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. Understanding what causes muscle cramps can help you find the best ways to prevent it. So, let's get started!
Reasons for muscle cramps - what’s yours?
Ever so often, the coordinated functioning of your muscles is interrupted. Over-exercising, dehydration and mineral deciencies are key reasons. When you push yourself too hard during heavy exercise, your muscle membranes are damaged. Dehydration, after a vigorous workout, also causes your muscles to cramp up. Pregnancy, age and medical conditions associated with circulatory changes and stress are other risk factors.
How to prevent and treat muscle cramps?
Let's look more closely at the multi-benefit nutrient, Vitamin E.
Did you know that Vitamin E can help you with muscle cramps?
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that repairs damaged muscle membranes
During a strenuous exercise routine, your oxygen consumption is increased by 10-20- fold and your body also produces high number of free radicals. This increases the oxidative stress and interferes with the process of membrane repair. Vitamin E with its antioxidant properties, fights these free radicals, helping your cell and muscle membranes heal faster. Incredible right? Vitamin E acts as a defense against muscle damage by protecting your cells from oxidative stress.
Additionally, to treat muscle cramps, you can also try self-care measures such as hot and cold showers, body stretches, yoga and massages. Vitamin E rich foods like green vegetables, pumpkin, nuts and seeds, can also do wonders.
So, what are you waiting for? On your mark… get set…. go
