One of the easiest and most commonly followed methods for preventing and curing leg cramps is increasing the level of potassium in your body. Potassium is an essential mineral that helps keep your kidneys, your skeleton, heart and body muscles healthy and in good working order. Many people have learned that taking a daily potassium supplement can greatly reduce their leg cramps at night.

Taking a daily potassium and magnesium supplement has helped many people avoid night time leg cramping and charley horses.

If you get leg cramps or charley horses at night it could be a sign that you are not getting enough potassium throughout the day. Potassium helps your body contract its muscles efficiently, so without enough potassium the muscle has to work harder to contract and move. The harder the muscle moves, the more lactic acid (a waste product) builds up. It is generally believed that when your leg cramps or spasms that the nerve endings to the muscles are just “overwhelmed” or “short-circuited” with waste products and don’t have enough oxygen to turn off.

Potassium and salt, though chemically similar, play very different roles in your body and can affect muscle cramping and functions. Your body’s potassium needs will generally increase with an increase in dietary sodium. This means that a salty meal during the day could contribute to your leg cramps at night because the excess salt in your body requires more potassium than your body has available to process it.

Your body also loses potassium in other ways, such as through various medical conditions (such as Crohn’s disease) or when you exercise a lot and lose minerals and electrolytes through sweating. Some medications such as certain diuretics and laxatives can also contribute to an unusually rapid loss of potassium in the body.  Sudden leg cramps can be one sign that your potassium levels are low.

Hypokalemia – Low Potassium Levels

Potassium is such a vital element that people with low potassium levels are said to have Hypokalemia. Some of the symptoms of Hypokalemia are general weakness and tiredness, stomach problems, an irregular heatbeat and muscle cramps, including nocturnal leg cramps. Because potassium is found in so many common fruits and vegetables it is rare that severe hypokalemia is caused by a dietary potassium deficiency. This means that if you are eating plenty of potassium and still have some of the symptoms of Hypokalemia such as muscle cramping you should definitely see a doctor.

Increasing Potassium For Leg Cramps

There are lots of potassium-rich foods that can prevent leg cramps, but there are also a number of potassium supplements that, when taken properly, can greatly reduce or completely diminish nocturnal leg cramping.

Potassium supplements come in several different common dosages and forms. You can get your potassium from a multivitamin or you can take take potassium in their own supplements. Your body also needs the mineral magnesium to be able to work with potassium, so unless you have Hypomagnesemia (high magnesium levels) it might be a good idea for you to consider taking a supplement with magnesium and potassium combined into one tablet.

Most people who take potassium supplements for leg cramps do report a definite decrease in frequency. Obviously, you should be careful when first starting to take any supplement and you should consult with your doctor or health care provider first. Children should not be given potassium supplements unless instructed by a doctor.

There is a danger of having too much potassium in your body as well. A healthy adult should generally get about 2,000 mg of potassium per day, though as noted before, that number can range widely with sodium intake, activity level and other health factors. Potassium supplements, like most vitamin supplements, can have side effects and unintended interactions with other medicines you may be taking. If you’re getting leg cramps you might want to try increasing the potassium in your diet gradually over a week or two to see if it makes any difference in your comfort level and number of leg cramps you get. For some people a small potassium supplement or change in dietary habits makes all the difference. For others there may be other treatments needed.

Some people who suffer from night time leg cramps have found that some of the minor side effects of potassium supplements (some nausea or stomach upset from time to time) are still preferable to suffering from painful leg cramps at night.