Muscle cramps now affect people across a wide range of ages and levels of fitness, rather than being primarily a symptom of the elderly, as in the past. Cramps are always a chronic condition. It is a yin and blood deficiency pattern. Cramps are more of an issue at nighttime because of this. You can sense the onset during the day, but yang dominates day, it is night which is ruled by yin when relaxation-associated symptoms become prominent.

Cramps are affiliated with lifestyle factors that affect your liver’s function of relaxing the muscles and that, in turn, is controlled by the liver’s function of storing blood. Anything that interferes with the production of blood, and the liver function of storing blood, is a cause for cramps. Lifestyle factors that do this include chronic sleep deprivation, skipping or rushing meals, a nutrient poor diet, excessive amounts of coffee, no time to relax, regular use of ‘explosive’ pre-workout supplements (many exercisers suffer from cramps), but also excessive sex, smoking and drug. The list is endless. An uptight and rigid body causes stress and a state of mind that can trigger cramps.

Magnesium supplements and creams can immediately alleviate the symptom, but it won’t treat the cause. Magnesium deficiency is one of the most common global deficiencies, and this makes people more prone to cramps, but lifestyle factors contribute to this deficiency. Addressing the factors that interfere with the liver’s function of storing blood is the solution. This impacts on the state of your mind too creating a sense of calmness and peace. Find out how to balance action and relaxation for muscle and overall health in my book Clock On To Health.