A Leg Cramps at Night: A Lack of O2, CO2 and Electrons in Muscles

- Updated on November 1, 2020

By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Alternative Health Educator and Author

A Leg Cramps at Night: A Lack of O2, CO2 and Electrons in Muscles

Leg cramps at night are caused by 3 major deficiencies: low levels of O2 and CO2, and a lack of free electrons in body and muscle cells (humans used to be grounded to the Earth 24/7, but not these days). This is true even during pregnancy.

Modern people breathe nearly 3 times more air (see Homepage for studies related to hyperventilation in modern men) and are insulated from the Earth. This causes leg cramps at night.

In order to normalize these 3 fundamental physiological parameters, a person can use 2 techniques:
– a simple breathing exercise that helps to eliminate the cause of leg cramps related to breathing
– Earthing (or grounding the human body to the Earth).

Easy breathing exercise: stop leg cramps at night in 1-2 minutes

Relax all your muscles, legs included while lying on your left side or chest. Breathe only through the nose. After your natural exhale (breathe out), pinch your nose and start holding your breath, but do that only until you start to experience initial discomfort. Count your result for curiosity (see norms below).

When you release the nose after this breath holding, avoid taking a large or deep inhalation. Instead, make a smaller inhale while using the diaphragm. After this small inhalation, immediately relax all muscles, legs and thighs included. Then make another (smaller) inhalation with the abdominal muscles and relax all muscles to exhale.

With every inhalation, you should take only a small volume of air. It should be about 25% less than your usual inhalation. Make these inhalations using your lower respiratory muscles. In order to exhale, just relax all body muscles. You should maintain air hunger for about two minutes in order to increase oxygen and CO2 levels in body muscles. This simple breathing exercise helps to stop or get rid of leg cramps at night much faster than doing nothing or using conventional techniques (such as rubbing or trying to relax and stretch the painful muscle areas).

Most people can get rid of cramps in 1-2 minutes using this method. However, more severe types of leg cramps at night require a period of breathing retraining for slower breathing and higher body oxygenation.

YouTube video: How to get rid of cramps

The YouTube video (on the right side) provides detailed instructions explaining this easy breathing exercise to relieve leg cramps, even at night, in bed, or at any other time of the day (e.g., during pregnancy).

How does it work?

Higher CO2 levels decrease or normalize too high excitability of neurons in nerves and muscles. This restores normal transmission of nerve signals in muscles. In addition, increased CO2 improves perfusion and O2 transport to the legs affected by night cramps.

With this exercise, one can stop pain and most leg cramps in about 1 or 3 minutes. However, higher body O2 results are required (see details below) for prevention of all new cramps in future.

Earthing and diet: other remedies for leg cramp at night

For some people, this respiratory exercise does not stop leg cramps at night. Here are three additional steps to solve this problem completely. These steps helped to nearly all my students to forget about their cramps. These remedies include one unknown diet ingredient, electrical grounding of the human body, and the ultimate solution of nearly any health symptom (high body O2 24/7). For details, see this link: Get rid of cramps

Related web page: Causes of cramps.

How automatic-breathing parameters relate to spasms and cramping

(muscle, stomach, leg cramps in bed; periods or menstrual cramps; and many other types)

* You cannot measure your respiratory frequency just by counting it (more info: Breathing rates)

Or go back to Hyperventilation symptoms