RLS Foundation Mission and Resources

Restless Legs Syndrome causes creepy-crawly sensations in the limbs, primarily in the legs (but occasionally in the arms and trunk). The sensations have the following features:

• Occur during periods of inactivity
• Become more severe at night
• Are tied to an overwhelming urge to move the limb
• Are relieved by movement of the limb
• Often cause difficulty staying or falling asleep, which lead to feelings of daytime tiredness or fatigue
• May cause involuntarily jerking of the limbs during sleep and sometimes during wakefulness

RLS Foundation is concentrating efforts on raising awareness of RLS. You have the potential to change the lives of people with RLS who may not even know that their torture has a name. Help increase awareness by doing the following:

1. Consider becoming a member of the RLS Foundation. Your support helps the RLS Foundation provide information about RLS to those who need it. Among the benefits you will receive is our RLS newsletter "NightWalkers".
2. Contact your local library, and ask the librarian to create a special display of books about the brain, nervous system or about sleep from their collections. You could purchase a copy of Sleep Thief: Restless Legs Syndrome and give it to your library to include in this exhibit or you could ask your librarian to order a copy.
3. Another easy way to raise awareness is to write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Tell your RLS story and be sure to provide contact information for the RLS Foundation so that readers can receive a copy of Living with Restless Legs (please use 1-877-463-6757 or www.rls.org). If you have a support group in your community, make sure you list the time, date, and place of the next meeting.
4. Submit your personal RLS story to TalkAboutSleep.com for inclusion in their Patient Support section. Send your story in email or Word format to info@talkaboutsleep.com.
5. Write your members of congress, and encourage them to support research on brain and sleep disorders and, specifically, on RLS.
6. When you travel to Washington, DC, visit your members of congress and your senators. Share your RLS story with them and encourage them use to your tax dollars to support research into the cause of and a cure for RLS.
7. Sponsor an RLS speaker in your community. A hospital or library may be willing to offer free meeting space and you can often obtain publicity from your community calendar. If you don't know a physician or scientist who would be willing to speak, contact Cindy Stier at the RLS Foundation (507-287-6465), the American Academy of Neurology (651-695-1940), or the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (507-287-6006) and ask them to help you locate a speaker in your community.
8. Be creative. Develop your own methods to raise awareness of RLS and then send your ideas to the RLS Foundation so that they can be shared with others in future issues of the RLS newsletter "NightWalkers".