“We can't sleep”: restless legs syndrome, this little-known neurological disorder that affects two million French people

In France, 8.5% of the population, or 5.8 million people, have already experienced nocturnal “impatience”, these unpleasant sensations which can cause uncontrolled shaking of the legs during sleep. When these symptoms are very occasional, we hardly worry about them. But in around 2 million French people, they appear daily and, in severe cases, this neurological disorder known as “restless legs syndrome”, also called Willis-Ekbom disease, turns into a real ordeal! “We cannot sleep, because as soon as we are at rest, lying down or even sitting for a little longer, we feel an urgent need to get up and walk,” summarizes Robert Parisot, president of the France Ekbom Association (AFE).

Founded in 2001 under the name of the French Association of People Affected by Restless Legs Syndrome (AFSJR), it made it possible to make the voices of suffering patients heard, confronted…