While many people sufer from leg cramps at night, some others actually get more leg cramps at day, especially when they spend a lot of time sitting at a desk or working on their computer. While many of the causes of leg cramps are the same for leg cramp sufferers during the day or night, there are some different techniques you can use to prevent leg cramps while sitting at work all day.

Stay Hydrated: Office environments are often filled with stale, dry air, so your body naturally tends to dry out as well. Try keeping a bottle or glass of water at your desk at all times and take frequent sips of water from it. Ideally, you should be drinking three to four full large glasses of water or liquid per day. While it is true that coffee and tea contain caffeine that can serve as diuiretics, one or two cups won’t harm you.

Stand up and Walk Around at Regular Intervals: A lot of people become so absorbed in their work that they sit still for large period of time, unknowingly cutting off circulation to their legs and feet. To avoid this problem, try to schedule regular breaks where you stand up and either take a walk around the office, jog in place or at least stretch for a minute or two. If you find yourself forgetting to do this, try setting a regular alarm on your computer that goes off every 20 to 30 minutes, reminding you to stand up and take a short walk.

Move Your Legs At Your Desk: Even if you can’t get up on a regular basis, you can stretch your legs under your desk, massage your calves while you’re on the phone or reading something online or just do a little tap dance on your own. Anything you can do to keep your circulation flowing will help prevent your legs from cramping. Have your PC under your desk? Consider moving it so that you have more room to stretch and move your legs while you work.

Adjust Your Chair: The way you’re sitting could be contributing to cramping leg and calf muscles. Make sure your chair is not pushing against the back of your legs and cutting off circulation. You may also want to raise or lower your chair so that your legs are relaxed and comfortable when you’re sitting and not stretching to read the floor or cramped and bent in an uncomfortable position.

Stretch Your Lower Back: A lot of people slouch at their desk, which strains the lower back and core body muscles. This straining can contribute to cramping legs. You can try straightening your back or even using a small pillow to increase the lumbar support of your chair.

Upgrade Your Chair or Desk: It is obviously easier to adjust your existing chair and desk to be more ergonomically correct, but when that fails you may need to change your work environment in order to avoid leg cramps after long periods of sitting down. Some people swear by using yoga balls in place of a desk chair because it allows them to constantly move and bounce to keep the circulation flowing in their legs. You may want to try a different sort of desk arrangement or a higher or lower desktop. You can even make your own standing desk if you think sitting too long is causing your regular leg cramps.

Change Your Diet: There are lots of things you can do to prevent leg cramps and changing your diet to include more foods that are high in potassium. Failing that, you can try sipping apple cider vinegar and honey to avoid leg cramps.

Remember, leg cramps could be the sign of a more serious condition. If you are frequently having leg cramps even after trying some of these remedies then you may want to schedule an appointment with your doctor to see if there are other underlying causes to your leg and muscle cramping.