What Causes Nighttime Leg Cramps?

You are sound asleep when, suddenly, you experience a hideously painful leg cramp that snaps you right out of peaceful slumber. Leg cramps can be caused by any number of diseases or conditions, according to the Mayo Clinic. In addition, if your body is short on certain minerals, which are considered electrolytes, this can cause leg cramps. Those necessary minerals include calcium, sodium, magnesium and potassium. Long distance runners sometimes experience leg cramps toward the end of their run because their bodies have been depleted of these minerals through the runner's sweat.

Pregnancy

• The farther along you get in your pregnancy, and the bigger you get, the more likely you are to experience leg cramps, which will probably strike at night, according to BabyCenter. There is no definitive answer to why pregnant women experience leg cramps, but it's probably due to the fact that the woman is carrying extra weight and her legs muscles are simply tired. Leg cramps might be aggravated by the added pressure that your expanding uterus puts on blood vessels. These vessels transport blood from your legs to your heart and to nerves that lead from your trunk back to your legs. Some physicians don't believe that lack of calcium has a bearing on leg cramps whereas others disagree. Make sure that you are getting enough calcium into your system, for your sake and the fetus's and in the event that calcium deficiency does play a role in leg cramps.

Flat Feet or Dialysis

• If you have flat feet, your feet don't have adequate, or any, arch. If you are flat footed, this can cause pain and inflammation in the ligaments in the soles of your feet. This condition is called plantar fasciitis. Other outcomes can be bunions, arthritis in your ankle or foot, Achilles tendinitis, shin splits and leg cramps.
  Patients who are undergoing kidney dialysis frequently complain of nighttime leg cramps.

Diuretics or Diabetes

• Diuretics, or water pills, as some people refer to them, help the body get rid of sodium (salt) and water and make the kidneys put more sodium into your urine. The sodium grabs water from your blood and this decreases the levels of fluid in your blood vessels, which reduces the pressure on the walls of your arteries. However, diuretics can deplete potassium levels in your body, which can result in leg cramps. According to the Diabetes Information Library, people who have diabetes and who take insulin as a result might have low potassium levels, which, as stated above, can lead to leg cramps. Furthermore, deficits in sodium and magnesium can occur in diabetes and this, too, leads to leg cramps.

Growing Pains

• Some children are plagued by nighttime leg cramps, according to the Diabetes Information Library. These cramps are causing by growing pains and can be experienced by children both with or without diabetes.

Peripheral Artery Disease

• Peripheral artery disease occurs in the arteries in the legs and pelvis. If you have foot or toe wounds that heal very slowly or won't heal at all, or if you are having leg cramps and pain and a marked decrease in the temperature of your foot or lower leg, compared to the rest of your body or to the other leg, you might have this condition, according to the American Heart Association.

Parkinson's Disease

• People who have Parkinson's Disease are often struck by leg cramps, according to the Mayo Clinic. Parkinson's is a gradually developing disease that first manifests with a hardly noticeable tremor in just one hand. Parkinson's occurs when the brain is deficient in the chemical messenger dopamine. Although it hasn't been determined why this happens, the brain cells in Parkinson's patients that produce dopamine become impaired or die.

Thyroid Disease or Addison's Disease

• According to the Mayo Clinic, an underactive thyroid, which is called hypothyroidism, can cause nighttime leg cramps. Addison's disease is, according to Medterms.com, a malfunction of the adrenal gland that may have been caused by hemorrhage, tuberculosis of the adrenal, destruction of the cells in the pituitary gland or physical trauma to the adrenal. Sufferers of this condition can be afflicted with leg cramps and other side effects.