Recently I've noticed that my fingers, mostly on my right hand will go numb while I am sleeping at night. It usually will wake me up in the middle of the night and then I will have to rotate or hang my arm at the side of the bed for it to go away, but eventually it always comes back again at another time during the night. I tried doing some research online and the only thing that makes sense to me is that it could be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as I work a lot on the computer. But I'm not sure.

Does this happen to anybody else or does anybody have any other insight on this or ways that I could make it better?

I read the title of this thread in the unread posts list and couldn't figure out why on earth I would want to number my fingers while I was sleeping. The best I could come up with before I noticed which forum this was posted in was something along the lines of making sure each finger was on the proper hand in the right spot when I woke up.

I'm a little confused about why you chose the word "number", which suggests that you regularly have numbness in your hand which would probably mean that something you do while you're sleeping just aggravates the existing condition.

Have you made any changes in the way you sleep in the last few months ?
Have you gotten a new bed, have you started sleeping on your side, did you get a new kind of pillow, have you started sleeping with an arm around a pillow/person/etc, anything like that ?
Perhaps you are in a new position and pinching a nerve/vein that you weren't before while you sleep.

Have you gained any weight recently ?
A little weight gain around the arm pit or elbow area could make a difference in how blood flows through your arm if you sleep on your side. Extra weight, even a little, could also pinch a nerve depending on where it is and how you sleep.

Carpal Tunnel doesn't make much sense to me because it's something that happens when you're sleeping. If you have any sort of pain in that wrist during the day I could see how something you do in your sleep aggravates it though.

Oops! I have no idea why I wrote "numbers" either, obviously I meant numb. I've changed it in the title so now I hope it makes more sense.

I don't believe I have made any changes in the way I sleep and my bed is the same bed that I've had since 2003. I usually always sleep on my side or stomach and I still do so that hasn't changed. My pillow is also still the same.

I paid extra attention to the numbness going on with me last night. It only happened to my right hand, and it was only with my index finger, middle finger and ring finger. The thumb and pinky fingers were fine. Also it was weird because after I realized the numbness and hung my arm off to the side of the bed to relieve it, there was none of that tingling pins and needles sensation that usually happens when a body part awakens after falling asleep...

I don't think it has anything to do with if I am sleeping on my arm and cutting off the circulation though because at one point last night I told myself "okay, I'm just going to lay here on my back with both of my arms crossed across my chest and see if anything happens. Before I knew it, my right 3 fingers were going numb and my left hand was okay. It seems the only position that doesn't numb my fingers is if it is dangling off the bed.

That's funny. I thought the same thing, "Number my fingers while sleeping????" Hummmm... ok!?! Then I realized, too, the word wasn't "number" as in # but "numb - er" ... as in numb. So I double checked the dictionary to see if that is how numb - er is spelled, and that's how it is spelled!! Number!! Is that # or number!?! So confusing while reading. Guess that's why they say the American English language is the hardest to learn.

I agree with joebert... it seems to me that nerves can get pinched in the craziest positions, even if you think you aren't laying a certain way to pinch one. And, if you had Carpal Tunnel, you would be in pain all day long too, not just at night while you sleep. You wouldn't be able to lift a glass to drink water, or brush your teeth without feeling pain. Isn't carpal tunnel in the wrists?

Or what about blood flow? Maybe you have poor circulation of blood in that hand when you lay down to sleep. If I lay too long on either arm, the whole arm and hand will start to go numb.

I would pay special attention to my arm pit and elbow when going to sleep the next night.

So far is seems when the arm is hanging off the bed is the only position where both of these joints are extended out and away. Laying with your arms crossed over your chest compresses both joints. Depending on whether you place your arm up under your pillow when on your stomach, that could be an out and away position too, though being up would give the front of your arm pit the chance to pinch something.

If you look at the following image, you'll see the nerves passing through the arm pit area. The yellow one in the middle leads to the three fingers in question. It also leads to the thumb, and your thumb isn't numb, but if you're only pinching the part of the nerve that leads to those three fingers that could be explained.

The nerves also appear to pass through the area carpul tunnel affects. Maybe it is an early warning sign of problems in that area. Isn't the body more perceptive of slight pains when it is winding down to go to sleep ?

I still can't wrap my head around how holding your arm over the edge of the bed would alleviate problems stemming from the wrist though.

There are a lot more nerves that run through the arm and hands than I thought. My hands are almost always cold too... I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

I think I sometimes do place my arm under my pillow when I am on my stomach, and if I remember right the fingers still go numb. I'll pay extra attention the next few days to see exactly which positions make them go numb, and which do not.

So last night I noticed a couple things about my finger numbness. For most of the night I tried to lay with my right arm extended out and away from my body so I wasn't bending any of the nerves. I noticed that when I had my arm extended and my palm facing down my fingers never went numb... but if I turned my hand so that my palm was facing up, they would start to go numb. It's good to know that there is a position that I could put my arm so that my fingers won't go numb, but at the same time, the position was not all that comfortable. I guess I am really used to bending my arm when I sleep at night. I'm also wondering why my fingers never went numb before when my arm was bent, but now they do. Does this just come with aging? If so, man... I'm only 29... I'm scared to find out what parts of my body are going to be going numb when I sleep at night when I'm 50!

I would think that the difference of the palm facing up vs down would put a pinch in the elbow area.
When you have your palm facing up, do you feel even a slight sort of tension in the skin on the inside of your elbow ?

I'm wondering if experimenting with an elastic wrap around the elbow area would help.

Hmm, no not really... not that I can tell. Feels normal to me.

What about compared to it laying in the other position ?

It feels the same in both positions. I tried laying with my arm out and the palm up, then I switched it so the palm was down and I felt no difference in my elbow area...

Have you ever thought that because you are in such good shape and have a low resting heart rate that whenever you go to sleep that your heart might not be pumping enough blood to get to your extremities and that your blood flow increases when you hang your arm off the bed due to gravity? That is the only thing I can think of?!?

That sounds plausible to me. Why does it only happen in one arm and three fingers though ?

It's still only happening to the same 3 fingers, but whatever it is must be getting worse because now it is happening to my left hand too... still not as bad as when it happens to my right hand, but it is still not fun.

I've been in better shape than I am now before and this never happened then, so I don't know if that is the cause...

My hands are cold most of the time too, and I found out with an underactive thyroid, cold hands and feet are a symptom. During my last physical in April the doctor noticed my cold hands and mentioned doing a thyroid check, but since I didn't have insurance at the time she figured since I was otherwise healthy, whatever it was could wait. So I never had it checked. I'm thinking that maybe my thyroid isn't functioning as it should.

Well I think progression rules out pinched nerves, veins, etc being a cause unless the sleeping experiments have got you sleeping in positions where the other arm is effected now two.



The suggestion that you have it now along with progression in the symptoms seems like a good reason to schedule that appointment. Unless you're pregnant, that thyroid stuff sounds worth looking into to me.