The Reason We Get Muscle Cramps and Spasms

Muscle cramps and spasms are incredibly common occurrences. But why? Is it to do with an active or sedentary lifestyle? Our research suggests something more...

This article answers:

• What is a muscle spasm?
• What does a muscle spasm feel like?
• Is there a way to stop muscle spasms?
• How do muscles work?
• Is there a natural solution to help prevent future muscle spasms and cramps?

What is a muscle spasm?

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As strange as a muscle spasm feels, it can actually be explained pretty easily.

Go ahead; do your best Popeye impression! Squeeze your bicep as much as you can!

That squeezing? That’s a contraction. When you let it go? That’s relaxation. Any physical action we take involves muscle contraction and muscle relaxation.

So a muscle spasm is what happens when our muscle decides to contract without us telling it to! It feels like your muscle isn’t listening to your body, and it gets tighter and tighter while you desperately try to relax.

However, as crazy as they sound… You shouldn’t be freaked out. They’re really common, and can affect people of any age group.

What does a muscle spasm feel like?

Well, it’s not pleasant, that’s for sure.

It’s actually not the easiest sensation to describe. Your muscle starts to feel really tight and very rigid. There’s a spectrum of the pain accompanied with this, as summed up by the Cleveland Clinic:

“Muscle spasms range in intensity from mild, uncomfortable twitches to significant discomfort to intense, severe pain.”

What’s most noticeable is the mental anxiety it brings you. After all, your body is doing something you’re not telling it to do! How can that be?

Is there a problem with my nerves?

Every single muscle contraction and relaxation starts with a message from your nervous system; basically, your brain tells your muscles to make a move!

What happens with a muscle twitch is that your nerves send a message to contract… and then just keep firing that message over and over again!

So you see, it’s not that your body is acting of its own accord. It’s still listening to your nervous system.

So, why is your nervous system acting like this? Well, many of us don’t do nearly enough to keep our nervous system properly nourished. Your nervous system needs to be kept calm and fresh so the messages it sends to your muscles are clear!

Is there a way to stop muscle spasms?

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While many of us wish there was a magical cure-all to stop muscle spasms from happening, that isn’t the case! Boo.

You’ll often hear people offer solutions such as getting a massage, stretching your muscle, or applying a hot/cold compress.

There’s no denying that these can offer you some relief in the short-term. But the fact is, unless you start investing in the nourishment your nervous system and muscles need to stay healthy, muscle spasms may always be around the corner.

In order to start identifying the long-term solutions to fighting this problem, we’ve first got to understand how muscles work.

How do muscles work?

We’ve already identified that muscles work through contraction and relaxation after receiving a message from your nervous system.

But what exactly is contraction and relaxation?

When our muscle cells are tight and contracted they contain the mineral sodium. When our muscles are told to relax, the sodium leaves and it is replaced by the mineral potassium.

So the process of contraction and relaxation can be boiled down to the action of sodium and potassium switching places! This is referred to as the sodium-potassium pump.

This pump doesn’t work in a vacuum. It has to be turned on and off, which is a responsibility that falls on the shoulders of magnesium.

In short: Your nerves send a message, magnesium turns on your pump, and sodium and potassium switch places. Simple!

Or at least, it would be simple in a perfect world.

Why do we get muscle spasms?

Check out this stunning statement from the Cleveland Clinic:

“Muscle spasms can occur at any time to anyone. Whether you are old, young, sedentary or active, you may develop a muscle spasm. It can happen when you walk, sit, perform any exercise or sleep. Some individuals are prone to muscle spasms and get them regularly with any physical exertion.”

But that’s not all.

Did you know that most Americans consume too much sodium? Additionally, many of us don’t get enough potassium! Finally, more than half of all Americans also don’t get enough magnesium in their diet.

Based on these findings, plus the statement by the Cleveland Clinic, a real conclusion starts to appear.

It’s not our lifestyles that are the problem… it’s the lack of necessary nourishment that fails to reach so many of us that’s the problem!

Only by delivering the necessary minerals and nutrients to our body can we achieve long-term success in the battle against muscle spasms!

Is there a natural solution to preventing muscle spasms?

Jen Dieter

We’re going to walk you through the natural ingredients that help your muscles contract and relax easily, and also help you resist spasms and cramps!

How would we know? Well, we’ve had a lot of success in this field with our own all-natural solution to this problem: Muscle Ease™

In fact, it’s regularly used by record-holding weightlifter, CrossFit athlete, and physical therapist, Jen Dieter, to fight cramps and spasms and to keep her muscles competition-ready!

Here’s a look at all the ingredients that make Muscle Ease™ so special!

American Skullcap

Remember, muscle contraction and relaxation starts with a message from your nerves. So, this first ingredient is all about supporting your nervous system.

American Skullcap is our first choice when it comes to the health of your nervous system. It helps calm and renew this system to help us avoid the problem of nerves continually firing messages to our muscles!

We can’t take credit for this discovery; people have been using this herb for years. In fact, Native Americans have used this incredible botanical for both muscle movement and nervous twitching!

Magnesium

Once our nerves have sent a message to contract, we need magnesium to turn on our sodium-potassium pump!

However, you need to be very careful about what magnesium you put into your body.

Many can attest to taking a magnesium supplement and quickly experiencing digestive issues. This is because most magnesium supplements contain magnesium oxide.

This kind of magnesium won’t do much good at all. Why? Because it has the uncanny ability to absorb water.

What happens is the supplement sits in your colon and starts drawing in water from your body… and you can guarantee a bowel movement isn’t far behind! You’ll pass the magnesium before your body has a chance to absorb it and gain any benefit from it.

That’s why we use two types of magnesium. The first is chelated (bonded to) to all 9 amino acids. The second is magnesium glycinate. Thanks to this mix of magnesium, you won’t be experiencing any digestive issues!

Potassium

Once magnesium turns on our sodium-potassium pump, we need to make sure we have enough potassium that it’s able to work properly. Remember, muscle contractions and relaxations are just the switching of sodium and potassium is muscle cells.

As Americans we have so much sodium in our diet and so little potassium that it makes sense that our muscles can find it easy to tighten but have a real hard time relaxing.

This tightness can last for hours, days, and in extreme cases even years!

We want to bring you potassium to help balance that ratio, so your sodium-potassium pump works effectively!

White Peony and Angelica

Haven’t we covered all the bases of muscle contraction and relaxation now? Nervous system, magnesium switch, and sodium-potassium pump?

Well, yes. But there are just a couple of other supplementary ingredients needed to help fight the pain the contractions and spasms have been bringing you.

White peony and Angelica roots have been used for 1000’s of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat both men and women.

Particularly effective in both the abdomen and the extremities, they’re a staple of fighting muscle pain and muscle spasms!

They’re also incredibly effective at tonifying our blood and promoting circulation. We know that by reinvigorating stagnated circulation, we also decrease inflammation and it’s accompanying pain.

Alfalfa and Dulse

Finally, we want to deliver the essential microminerals needed to help maintain healthy muscle function.

We believe the best way to do this is not to include isolates, but rather to include nutrient-rich whole foods like alfalfa and dulse.

They’ll bring you manganese, iron, and plenty of other minerals to help you create mineral balance within your body.

Fight muscle cramps with Muscle Ease™!

Muscle cramps and spasms may be pretty common in our population... But they don’t have to be.

Muscle Ease™ can be the long-term solution to resisting cramps and spasms, and maintaining proper muscle function!

• FIGHT CRAMPS AND SPASMS By delivering magnesium and potassium, we help you maintain healthy and effective muscle contractions while fighting cramps and spasms!

• RECOVER FROM EXERCISE We love giving our muscles a workout… but they need to rest, too! We deliver the nourishment your muscles need to engage in restorative recovery!
• AVOID MUSCLE TWITCHES Every single muscle contraction and relaxation starts with a message from your nerves! By calming and renewing your nervous system, we keep those messages clear and help you avoid muscle twitches!

Healthy muscles are strong muscles! Give your muscles the nourishment they need with Muscle Ease™ today!

* Featured Girl photo created by nakaridore - www.freepik.com