When the mind is occupied, the legs grow quieter.
One in three patients knows this from experience, and since 2023 it has been measured: during a cognitive task the symptoms recede, while without a task they keep rising. An everyday observation thereby becomes a measure that can be dosed.
This volume follows the link between legs and mind in both directions. What does mental engagement achieve - and what, conversely, does RLS do to attention, word finding, working memory and decisions? For each area it states how thin or how solid the evidence is.
The second part is practical: distraction as a measure and how to dose it, the two tested behavioural programmes, relaxation and mindfulness, and a chapter on the conversation with your doctor.
WHAT IS IN THE BOOK
- The study that first measured the relieving effect
- The over-aroused mind: why you are exhausted and wide awake at once
- Is thinking really slower? What sixteen studies add up to
- When thinking changes under the medication
- Hasty decisions: impulsivity and augmentation
- Does RLS lead to dementia, and what night-time agitation in dementia means
- Attention in childhood: RLS, ADHD and iron
- Distraction as a measure, and the two tested therapy programmes
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
For patients who cannot switch off in the evening, for everyone with the impression that their mind works more slowly than it used to, and for relatives who cannot reconcile exhaustion with wakefulness.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Volume 37 of 52 in the book series on restless legs syndrome, part "Everyday Life and Self-Help". Every volume can be read on its own. The statements in this volume rest on 162 professional sources, each one listed individually in the reference section.
