I have had "twitchiness" for most of my life - it's extremely uncomfortable but I can tell you a bit more about it. I found that I wanted to "waggle" my foot constantly. I arranged for my GP to refer me to a specialist and, as a result, I got to the bottom of the issue.
Broadly, it is caused by poor circulation in the lower legs - it is felt particularly in the calf area. In my case, it is exacerbated by being tall - the blood needs to get pumped all the way from the feet up to the heart. For tall people, the feet are a long way from the heart and so the heart can be less effective at pumping the blood around.
The flow of blood can be adversely affected by certain foodstuffs and but this can be easily fixed.
Caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and acidic fruits all have an adverse impact. In addition, high quantities of articificial additives and preservatives can have an adverse affect. The reason you see it in the departure lounge is because people are often drinking there. Alcohol reduces the effectiveness of the muscles in the body - even the tiny ones in the veins (what are they called again ?) that help pump the blood around. You see it less in pubs and bars because most of those involve a lot of standing area (whereas the QP has very little standing area). Standing alleviates the issue (see below).
This issue can also been seen a lot in restaurants - people are often drinking wine with their meal, but need to sit with their feet tucked under their chair. Tucking the feet under a hard wooden chair and bending the knees tightly around the chair edge does not help with the circulation.
There are a number of ways to fix the problem - and if you suffer this acutely like me, the following help:
- "waggling" the foot gets the blood flowing. That's why people do it. However, it looks wacko and doesn't provide as much relief as some of the other options.
- raising the feet above the heart will provide relief in about 10 minutes. Again, this is not very practical - try doing it in economy class.
- avoiding alcohol, chocolate, etc helps but that's no fun !
- taking minute quantities of asprin will thin the blood. Thinner blood circulates more easily. Occassionally, I take one third of an asprin tablet. I don't like the idea of taking a lot of tablets so I try to avoid this. However, it is a great way to fix the issue.
- Paroven. Paroven is a non-prescription medication that, apparently, addresses the issue. However, I haven't found it very effective.
- standing up alleviates the issue.
I see people have mentioned boredeom, depression, etc as causes of this. As far as I am aware, these are not causes. In my case, it's very much a physical issue.
Hope that helps ! The specialist wasn't cheap so feel free to get in touch if this impacts you .. .. ..
Vaccav