So I’m doing this now: keeping a bar of soap under my bottom sheet and leaning a calf or foot against it as I fall asleep. Have I gone completely insane you might ask. Well d’uh, would be my reply. But have I gone more insane than usual? Possibly not.
I had been suffering from a lot of middle of the night leg cramps, mainly appearing in one or other calf, but occasionally in a foot, sometimes a weird part of the foot like the arch or the heel. This would have me leaping out of bed and pacing around until it went away.
Anyway a friend told me about the soap thing, and I laughed, thinking it some weird country old wive’s tale or some such. But I gave it a try anyway and lo and behold, the leg cramps stopped. I have had one since I started doing this, and probably driven by laziness, I rubbed my calf against the soap instead of jumping out of bed, and the cramp stopped instantly. Never had a night cramp since.
I looked up online what might be in soap to effect this minor miracle, and soap contains magnesium. So that’s what stops the cramps, it’s a thing. But who’d have thunk it.
