A lot of people have experienced waking up with utterly numb hands at one or the other point in their lives. Absolute numbness in the hands or just particularly the fingers might occur as a result of sleeping in a specific position which apparently blocks the entire blood circulation to the hands. However, numbness in the hands or fingers may also indicate a more serious medical condition per se.
In most of the cases, waking up with numb hands every once in a while is not a cause for concern at all. Just usually. However, if the symptoms that you have, prevent you from sleeping, you should immediately consult a physician. Let’s begin with what actually causes this. You may experience numb hands or fingers when waking up in the morning for the following reasons:
- Cervical (neck) spondylosis
- Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS)
- Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage)
- Diabetes mellitus
- Chemotherapy and other medications
- Vitamin B-12 deficiency
- Ganglion cysts: In the wrists and hands particularly, ganglion cysts are lumps that grow along the joints.
- Alcohol abuse: Excessive alcohol consumption may damage nerve tissue.
- Sleeping posture: You may wake up with numb fingers when you sleep on your arm or hand or in a position that places pressure on a nerve.
It usually isn’t such a massive problem and just a lack of blood flow can result in this hence the tension and it’s more often than not just because of their sleeping position which is a little different and complex than the body can attain to. Changing that however works wonders. Nonetheless, when to see a doctor or if at all to see one depends upon the intensity. You should consult your doctor if you experience intermittent numbness or tingling in one or both hands. You should also immediately seek emergency medical attention if the numbness begins suddenly or follows an injury or accident.
Let’s look at a few tips which might just help in numbing the pain in its totality. A supportive as well as soft pillow might just help alongwith a super comfortable mattress that would surely put the pressure points extremely less likely to be formed in the neck and shoulder region. One must remember that supporting your neck and spine is essential to getting a good night’s sleep. You might also want to consider the following tips to avoid numbness in your fingers when waking up,
- You should most certainly wear a wrist brace while sleeping in order to keep your wrist stable.
- Consider properly sleeping in a pretty different position, specifically on your side.
- Make sure not to lay your arms under a pillow for this can cause nerve compression to begin with.
- To reduce nerve pinching, try keeping your arms next to you if you sleep on your back often with your arms overhead.
- Before going to sleep, try stretching your hands and wrists. This works like magic.
