How to stop sleeping on your arm

Let’s see first the reason why your arm paralyzes upon waking up

There are two explanations for the numbness of your arm.

• During the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, in which your brain is as active as it is awake, the brain sends a signal to the spinal core to stop the arms and legs from acting out your dreams. If you wake up during one of these phrases, you will be conscious before your limbs wake up. It can be terrifying since you are caught between sleep and awake without the ability to move.
• The nerve in your arm is compressed when you lie on it, simple!

It may sound harmless but compressing nerves for too long can actually damage them. Luckily, our bodies wake up naturally as a protection mechanism when the nerves are compressed for a long time. However, the problem does cause irritation and discomfort in the morning. And as a long term effect, it can lead to spinal misalignment and more pain in your body.

So how can we stop sleeping on the arm?

A good mattress is the key

If you are a side sleeper like me, the chances that you sleep on your arms are high. So finding a nice mattress for side sleepers that give enough support helps a lot. A mattress that is too firm will not conform to your body and can create pressure points on your hips and shoulders. In this case you tend to put your arms under the pillow to relieve the pressure on your shoulders, offering yourself not only numb arms in the morning but also pain in your shoulders and hips in the morning.
A soft mattress seems to give you a cloud-like sensation, but as you sink too much in your mattress, your spine will be misaligned and chances are that you will put your arm under your side to support your posture.
Therefore, mattresses with the right firmness can save you from using your arms as support and give you a healthier sleeping position, not only for your arms but for your whole body.

More, more, more, have I said enough “more” pillows?

Some are comfortable with sleeping with head flat on the mattress, some don’t. If you are the latter, it seems to be a normal instinct to put your arms under the pillow when your pillow is too flat and your head is sinking in it.
So head to the store and buy yourself a thicker pillow or just use multiple thin pillows to support your head. That way, you won’t use your arms as pillows anymore.

Even more pillows

I know you’re tired of hearing pillows, but they are side sleepers’ ticket to the wonderful land. When you sleep on your ride, try to tilt forward or backward a bit to take out a bit of pressure on your hips and shoulders.
Place a pillow near your chest when you tilt forward, this can relieve the pressure points and avoid snoring and let your sinus drain. Extend your arms in front of you and just let it do the magic.

If tilting forward put too much pressure on your chest, try it the opposite way and put a pillow under your upper back.

Do your morning stretches

For something as little as 5 minutes after you wake up, stretching is a miracle. Morning stretches help eliminate pains and aches in muscles and joints which appear after your body rest for a long period of time. Stretching after waking up is especially important to older people since the muscles tend to shrink and less fluid flows around the tendons as you age.
More than that, morning stretches can increase the blood flow around your body, including the brain. The adequate flood flow will give you the ability to concentrate better and think sharper. You will have the energy to start a new day without feeling tired and weary throughout the day. There is no better way to start a new day than stretching.