What to do About Numbness in Arms while Sleeping?

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Numb fingers, stressed out shoulders, a tight neck. These are the issues I deal while sleeping and each and every morning when I wake up and it drives me crazy. These problems also interrupt my sleep which makes me crazy. I’ll wake up to a numbness or tingling in my hand or fingers and have to roll over to get out of that environment. So I have to admit with a heavy heart that I have no idea about what to do about this numbness in arms while sleeping.

One of my hands has been trained to stay between my thighs wedged in to keep it stationary. This was no small feat as I used to sleep with both hands under the side of my head. Changing that pattern took a long time and only solved one of my issues. My hand that is now between my thighs used to hike its shoulder up in order for that hand to be under my cheek; this persistent raising of the shoulder while sleeping left the muscles of my neck miserable for minutes upon waking.

So one hand is taken care of but what about the other one? I can’t sleep on my back no matter how hard I try and though I have tried to lie on my side while sleeping without putting one of my hands under my cheek it feels very awkward and uncomfortable. What am I to do?

The sad answer so far is—I don’t know. And this is very frustrating to me. I go to sleep each night with the intention of solving the riddle of my numb extremities and wake up a pins and needle ridden failure. It is a good thing that failure is my friend or I would be a broken mess.

My next step is going to be a bigger bed (my son still climbs into my bed and shoves me off) and a new mattress. I have never tried the memory foam mattresses and I wonder if that would provide an answer to my problems.

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