The Student Room Group
Reply 1
its probabily your sleeping weird. If you arm is above you head its levitated and therefore blood runs towards the heart when a limb is levitate. So basically your arm goes to sleep before the circulation is reduced/cut off. Only suggestion is try to avoid going to sleep with your arm there.
Reply 2
I have being getting the exact same problem recently, i will try doing the above as it only seems to happen when my arm is above my head.
Reply 3
l1ncs
I have being getting the exact same problem recently, i will try doing the above as it only seems to happen when my arm is above my head.


:smile: If i stumble across something aswel ill let you know :smile:

Thank you glory for your suggestions. Do you think its possible that any damage may arise?
Reply 4
Common Problem. I used to have it too. I got a slightly bigger bed and the problem did not bug me again!
Reply 5
i dont think your arm is gonna drop off, the body is probabily pretty used to it and i think it should alert you before it does any harm.. Waking you up might be an example.
Reply 6
You can generally find out whether blood is flowing by taking your pulse.

What you describe sounds more like your arm "going to sleep" (like your legs sometimes do, for instance when sitting on the loo too long) and that is a nerv problem.
If you tend to lift your arm above your head during sleep you might be pressing on the plexus of nerves of which there are a great amound around your neck and armpit. Try avoiding having your arm above your head for too long.
Lifting the arm above your head would only drain the blood towards your heart if you were in an upright position and even then oobviously (as you can try out anytime) you still have a pulse and blood is left in your arm. Only if you had very severe plaques in your arteries resulting in poor bloodflow would you have problems.
I had that, i woke up with a fright once cause i turned over in the night and something came flying at me and landed on me and i was like WTF?! (as you would...) and i looked and there was nothing there, then tried moving my arm and it was completely dead, i lifted it up and it just flopped - was quite amusing at the time! - but i got feeling back in it eventually, its just where i was laying on it for so long obviously without knowing... so it could be something to do with the way you're sleeping :biggrin:
Reply 8
I get numb arms and legs all the time. i've told the doctor about it but they say its nothing.
Reply 9
oh viviki what does the official PS helper thing mean?!?!

and thanks for the feedback, ill alter my sleeping position :smile:
Reply 10
As people have said, it's because you're occluding blood flow to your arm. Don't worry, there's no real risk... the 'pins and needles'/pain is a signal and wakes you up