These tricks have several things in common.
1. You always have them with you.
2. Some of them are NOT easy to apply, initially.
3. Most of them require deligent practice, and a lot of faith that someday they will become reliable.
4. With several of these tricks, the more they are perfected, the more they become a skill, and the LESS you have to do of them. Just the suggestion or thought of them becomes enough, similar to the way it is with self-hypnosis.
Zero Tolerance is discussed on another page. If you have not seen it, already, click on the stop sign, above.
Bully noise works the same way. By keeping your mind active with thought, your brain doesn't hear the useless, obnoxious tauntings of the RLS bully, saying, "Move those legs."
To effectively use bully noise, you must first experiment until you find the kind of thought processes that work for you. For me, it made sense to think about something that involved my legs moving purposefully. So, I learned to think about my clogging (dancing). I'd begin a song/dance in my head, picturing every step and beat. If my legs distracted me, I'd make myself start at the beginning of the dance and think about each step, again. I did this over and over, until I "realized who was boss", so to speak. After many months of practice, I got to where I only got through about 8-16 counts of the dance, and I was asleep. For those first few months, however, I often had to apply Zero Tolerance, get out of bed, and then come back and try again, later.
You can find more on bully noise, by clicking above, on the little man with his fingers in his ears.
HOWEVER, it IS possible to get your mind so focused onto something else, that you no longer pay attention to the RLS attack. One answer is to multi-task, or do several activities at once.
Some ways to get distracted might be, getting into a heated debate with someone, doing chores, singing, looking for something, planning something, etc. Anger seems to not only distract, but it also may work because it initiates an adrenaline rush that might be useful. In my mind, when I want to use distraction as a trick, I say to myself, "OKAY, time to change the scene!"
You can do a few jumping jacks and stretches. Or, if you dance, then you can get up and dance a routine. If not, you can make up your own, easily enough. Here's one that works. Stand up and march 8 marching steps. Now, do 4 kicks out in front (left, right, left, right), then kick up your heals behind you four times, then raise up on your toes four times. You can even do this to the tune of "It's a Small, Small, World".
Rather than walking around like a helpless victim, try stopping an RLS attack with this type of purposeful movement. Then, when you lay down, again, you can repeat the routine in your head. You'll be using mental activity about a physical activity. What a great combination for fighting RLS!
Our tendency, when our limbs start crawling and we get those urges to move, is to look the other way, perhaps wanting to escape and "ignore" the limbs, as we've been advised, so many times. In fact, it helps to look at your legs or arms, and touch them.
The next time an RLS attack threatens, look straight at the limb and start rubbing your hand lightly, and quickly, back and forth. Concentrate on the feeling, the sensation, and even the heat of the friction. The feelings and sensations from the brushing will overpower any nagging urges to move.
Granted, when you stop brushing, the urges will return, but you might be able to get to the next car stop, or to the end of a movie, or to the end of a concert by vigorously brushing your arms or legs. Worst is, someone will think you are freezing and trying to warm up.
If the RLS attack has progressed to involving the muscles and knotting them, or causing pain, you can always move to a deeper, kneading, or pounding type of massage. Not only will it feel good, but just as with brushing, if you concentrate on the feelings of the massage, you'll become distracted from the feelings of the RLS.
