*Do you feel an intense urge to move your legs?* Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is sometimes called Willis-Ekbom disease after the doctors who first described it. It is a condition where you have an urge to move your legs. This is usually caused by an uncomfortable or unpleasant feeling in the legs. *Restless legs syndrome symptoms* Many people with RLS find it difficult to describe the feeling that they get in their legs. It may be like a crawling sensation, or like an electric feeling, or like toothache, or like water running down your leg, or like itchy bones or just fidgety, jumpy or twitchy legs, or just uncomfortable. Some people describe a deep painful feeling in their legs. The unpleasant feelings make you have an urge to move. Typically, when the unpleasant feelings occur they occur every 10-60 seconds and so you become quite restless. Typically, the symptoms: Develop when you are resting - particularly when you are sitting down or lying in bed. They tend to be worse if you are in a confined space such as in a cinema seat. Are usually worse in the evening or at night. In many people they only occur in the evening, especially when trying to get to sleep. The symptoms can make it difficult to get to sleep. This can have a knock-on effect of causing poor sleep, and tiredness the next day. Are usually eased briefly by moving, walking, massaging or stretching the legs. However, the symptoms tend to return shortly after resting again.Usually affect both legs. Occasionally, the arms are affected too. About 9 in 10 people with RLS also have sudden jerks (involuntary movements) of their legs when they are asleep. This is called periodic limb movements of sleep (PLMS). These movements can wake you up (and/or your partner). Some jerks may also occur when you are awake but resting. The severity of symptoms can vary from a mild restlessness of the legs on some evenings, to a distressing problem that occurs every evening and night, which regularly disturbs sleep. Many people fall somewhere in between these extremes. If you have moderate or severe symptoms it may lead to lack of sleep (insomnia), anxiety and depression. Source: https://patient.info/bones-joints-muscles/restless-legs-syndrome-leaflet
