Your legs or arm may feel funny as you try to move. They may feel numbness, a pins and needles sensation, or almost painful buzzing. You find that getting your muscles to work properly is nearly impossible. When we feel a body part fall asleep, it may be paresthesia.
Unlike commonly thought, the situation has less to do with blood circulation and more to do with nerves. Paresthesia is an abnormal sensation felt in your body due to compression or irritation of nerves. The irritation of your nerves may be mechanical—as in a " pinched nerve "—or it may be due to a medical condition, injury, or illness. The symptoms of paresthesia may vary from mild to severe, and they may be fleeting or long-lasting.
Knowing what paresthesia is and how it should and should not behave can help determine when—and if—you need medical attention for it. Paresthesia may cause various symptoms in your arms or legs. These may include:. Symptoms are typically felt in one arm or leg, but both arms and legs may be affected depending on the cause of your abnormal sensations felt from paresthesia. Symptoms often only last for a short time 30 minutes or less , and usually, they are not intense or severe.
But in some cases, paresthesia may last a long time. In these cases, you may need to see a healthcare provider to figure out the cause of your symptoms. Rest assured, most cases of pins and needles or your foot falling asleep are simply caused by assuming an unnatural position and are quickly resolved by moving around a bit. Most cases of paresthesia can be prevented by sitting with proper posture while watching TV or reading. Other causes can include:.
If you consistently feel symptoms of paresthesia, you should seek medical attention from your healthcare provider. In general, if your numbness and tingling symptoms come on while you are sitting in an awkward position, then they should go away within a few minutes of moving around. After a half-hour or so, you should be back to your normal self. If your foot or arm remains tingling or difficult to move after an hour, it may be time to check in with your healthcare provider.
If the cause of your paresthesia is due to an acute central nervous system condition, like a stroke, then time is of the essence. Getting the right diagnosis and medical care immediately is necessary.
If you have paresthesia that comes on gradually, and if you have a medical condition like diabetes, you may not be too concerned when your pins and needles or numbness worsens. It may just be due to high blood sugar. But, a worsening case of paresthesia should still be monitored by your healthcare provider.
Never Miss a Beat! Tap Click to Join! I understand that I may opt out of receiving such communications at any time. Thank you for subscribing! Message and data rates may apply. If you wake up with this feeling, readjust to relieve this pressure. More chronic paresthesia may be a sign of an underlying medical issue. Possible conditions might include:. There are many types of vitamin B , and they all help maintain cell health and keep you energized.
Although many people get enough B vitamins through their diet, some people may also need to take supplements to meet their recommended daily amount. This is most common among:. Fluid retention can be caused by a number of things, including high salt intake and fluctuating hormone levels during menstruation.
This can cause swelling to occur throughout the body or it can also be localized in certain body parts. Sometimes this swelling can disrupt circulation and trigger a tingling sensation in the affected area. If the numbness or tingling is also affecting your hand, it may be caused by carpal tunnel syndrome.
This happens when the median nerve is compressed or pinched. Making the same motions repeatedly, such as typing on a keyboard or working with machinery, can trigger it. If you have diabetes and are experiencing paresthesia regularly, it may be caused by nerve damage.
This damage is called peripheral neuropathy , and is caused by persistently high blood sugar levels. Conditions affecting the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis and stroke , can also cause paresthesia.
Tumors or growths, particularly those located in the brain or spine, may also trigger it. Check out: Idiopathic neuropathy ». Paresthesia can occur at any time, with no warning. While the sensation may be uncomfortable, it is usually painless. For example, the arm may fall asleep because a person is lying in a way that puts pressure on a nerve in the limb. Cases of positional paresthesia are harmless and generally occur when a nerve is under sustained pressure.
The sensation should go away after a person changes positions. Carpal tunnel syndrome is very common. It occurs when activities that involve repetitive finger motion, like typing or playing the piano, put too much pressure on the median nerve. This nerve runs the length of the arm and passes into the hand through the wrist. The syndrome can cause pain and numbness in the arms and hands, but one of the first symptoms is paresthesia that occurs in the hands and wrists more frequently at night.
According to the Cleveland Clinic , symptoms are likely to occur at night because people often sleep with their wrists bent. People with diabetes have a risk of nerve damage, and the medical term for this complication is diabetic neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy usually causes numbness and tingling in the feet and legs, though it can also affect the arms and hands.
Vitamin B deficiencies can cause a variety of problems, including anemia and tingling in the extremities. It can be easy to mistake this tingling sensation for the arms falling asleep. Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage that affects extremities. Diabetic neuropathy is one type. However, many other factors can cause nerve damage that results in a sensation of the arms, hands, legs, or feet falling asleep.
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