That urge to bob your leg up and down isn’t a manifestation of nerves, especially if the urge to move is irresistible.
Now, researchers have found that the Restless Leg Syndrome — an under-recognized sensory motor disorder that affects 15 percent of American adults — could be linked to high blood pressure in middle-aged women. Previous studies found the same link in men, according to the American Heart Association.
In a study of about 80,000 women, which was funded by the National Institute of Health, found a significant relationship between RLS severity and blood pressure. The more frequent the symptoms, the higher the systolic and diastolic blood pressures.
Women reported five to 14 incidents of restless leg each month has a 26-percent prevalence of high blood pressure. Women who reported more than 15 incidents of the leg-moving syndrome had a 33-percent prevalence of high blood pressure.
Those women who reported no RLS symptoms had a 21.4-percent prevalence of hypertension.
RLS is common, but usually under-recognized inpatients. Symptoms, including the urge to move, can lead to poor sleep habits and daytime drowsiness.
Although the link to high blood pressure could be serious, preventative measures could be relatively simple, according to Dr. Salma Batool-Anwar, the RLS-hypertension study’s first author, researcher in the Sleep Medicine Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.
Early diagnosis of the disorder, and early treatment for RLS — usually with iron supplements — could be the best deterrent for the linked hypertension.