I get both, and I'm not willing to go on prescription medicine for something like that. Its not so terrible, but it IS annoying! I was reading online and found many ideas about what causes these things, and I think I figured out which ones are right, so I wanted to share.
It IS hereditary, I can name you nine people in my family that I've seen jumping around when they get tired. Eight of them are women.
There seems to be some truth to the notion that its related to calcium vs. magnesium in the body. I've experimented with this. I regularly drink a ton of dairy products, but that doesn't seem to have enough of an effect. On the days when I eat any one of the high magnesium foods (spinach, black beans, bananas, and peanuts), all things I love to eat, I get both annoying jumpy legs, and awful painful foot cramps.
(The jumpiness only keeps me awake for awhile, not half the night like some people. My husband says I just fall asleep and kick him while I'm sleeping, keeping him awake instead of me).
It does not seem to matter if I drink almost no water, or tons of water.
I wasn't kidding, I DID find a cure! If I take one Viactiv, I don't get jumpy legs or foot cramps, even if I ate my beloved high magnesium foods.
Viactiv is that chocolate flavored calcium vitamin you can buy at the drugstore or walmart. One of them is 50% of the calcium you're supposed to take in a day, and the can says take two per day, but I only take one and it works.
I would imagine you don't actually have to take that brand, that any calcium pill might do, but I haven't experimented with that. It probably is important that whatever calcium pill you take has some of the D vitamin in it that helps you absorb the calcium. Calcium won't get absorbed without enough D in your body. (Your body can also make D when you spend time in the sun, but if you spend all day in an office like me, that might be a problem for you.)
As I said, I eat and drink a lot of dairy. That may be why I only need to take 50% of the daily recommended dose of calcium. Someone who doesn't drink milk or eat ice cream may need to take 100%.
Hope this helps someone.
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