Restless Legs Syndrome and the Baroque esthetic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34024/rnc.2014.v22.8080Keywords:
Restless Legs Syndrome, Sensations, Sleep DisordersAbstract
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) was first described in 1672 by Thomas Willis (1621–1675), a brilliant English physician who lived during the Baroque. The Baroque is often defined as the art or culture of the Counter-Reformation, an expression of specific values that were inherent to the conflicted state of the human soul during that time. The cardinal symptom of RLS is an imperious, compulsive, irresistible urge to move one’s legs. It is an inner disposition towards disquiet, which is also present in all artistic manifestations of the Baroque. The symptoms of RLS express the antitheses of rest and motion, calm and storm, stability and imbalance, surface and depths. We believe that the Baroque was an important contributor to the description of RLS and that RLS is a condition expressed similarly to that of Baroque art (e.g., writings, paintings, etc). During the time when Willis lived, all cultural manifestations were of the Baroque. These included movement, asymmetry, contrast, lurid color, and harmony displaced by imbalance. Furthermore, the period of Baroque was necessary for RLS to come to be.
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