Fit Or Fat: Nutrition and Exercise

Are Foot Cramps Keeping You Up At Night?

Posting Date: 01/28/2000

Q: How can I prevent getting cramps in my feet at night?

A: Cramps can have many causes, natural or unnatural. Natural causes would be:

1. Dehydration/hypovolemia (low blood volume)
2. Imbalanced or depleted electrolytes
3. Severe fatigue or actual injury

Unnatural causes might include:

1. Medications that cause one of the above conditions (There are many, many, many of these out there! Check with your physician or a pharmacist to see if you are taking one)
   
   
2. Undiagnosed condition of the nervous system

We will assume that the unnatural causes have been eliminated. Therefore, you must ask yourself which of the natural condition(s) could you be afflicted by? Dehydration is common. Too common! Caffeine is the culprit in most cases.

Think about this: for every cup of caffeine you drink, you need to consume between 16 to 32 ounces of water or more to counteract the diuretic effects. If you drink four cups of coffee per day, you need from eight to 16 extra cups per day to counter act the diuretic action in order to stay hydrated. This is cumulative to the eight or more cups of water you need to drink anyway!! So you better move your desk next to the water cooler!

With prolonged exercise routines, the body may lose between 13 to 17g of salt per day. The average diet intake is 8g, therefore salt replacement may be required. I would try drinking extra water first, because consuming too much salt needlessly is going to make cramping worse!

Finally, are you injured?? Do you experience excessive soreness or fatigue after your workouts? Watch for signs of over-training like lack of motivation/enthusiasm for exercise, increased resting heart rate, increased respiration rate and increased rectal temperature. I wouldn't use your good thermometer! Just measure oral temperature, that should suffice. Perhaps you are experiencing tear-down of muscle from over-training, which can cause a cramping response.

Drink water, eat well, rest a bit and stretch your toes by facing a wall and wedging your bare toes into an extended position against the wall. Aaaaahhhhhhh! Feels good! Good Luck!

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