I have been dealing with numbness in my thumb, wrist and sometimes my arm for the last year. I've tried acupuncture, chiropractic, stretches, physical rehab exercises, and lately sonar treatments. My chiropractor suggested hand stretches and a carpal tunnel wrist brace which has helped. Thanks to this article I know My SLEEPING Position with bent arms caused this! Last winter, wearing long sleeves produced a "burning" sensation on the lower part of my right hand at my wrist, so I've been curling up the cuffs of coats and sweatshirts. Hopefully, not bending my elbow while sleeping will alleviate this pain. Here's the story.
(Don't sleep with your elbow bent! Otherwise it can cause nerve damage)
If You Sleep In This 1 Position, Doctors Say You Need To Stop Immediately
It may feel safe and comfy, but experts warn it could lead to lasting nerve damage.
Ash Jurberg, Huffington Post, Nov 25, 2025
It’s the same every morning. That tingling creeps into your fingers. And your shoulders? Stiff as always. You stretch out your arms and roll your shoulders until the feeling comes back. You get up, shake it off. Probably nothing, you tell yourself.
Just slept weird, right? Maybe not. The way you sleep might be the real problem.
Many people don’t even realize it’s happening. They fall asleep with their arms relaxed, but by 3 a.m., they’ve curled in tight. Sleeping with arms bent, curled close to your chest, has been dubbed the “T. rex position” on social media. And while doctors don’t call it that, they do warn that doing it night after night can turn those temporary pins and needles into lasting nerve damage.
“When you sleep with your arms bent and tucked in, you can press on the nerves in your elbows or wrists,” Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a sleep medicine specialist and chief medical adviser for Sleepopolis, told HuffPost. “This can slow blood flow and make your arms feel numb or tingly. If you do it often, it can also strain your shoulders and make them stiff or sore.”
According to Dr. Matthew Bennett, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, some people also develop similar nerve irritation at the wrist, much like what happens with carpal tunnel syndrome. Keeping your elbow bent all night builds pressure where nerves pass through narrow spaces.
Turns out, it’s surprisingly common — and it can steadily get worse over time.
The Warning Signs Doctors Want You To Notice
Kieran Sheridan, a physiotherapist and founder of GulfPhysio, sees complaints regularly in his practice. Patients often describe a “dead arm” feeling or needing to shake out their hands in the morning. “This is your body telling you your nervous system isn’t happy,” he said.
Dasgupta also emphasized this. “If your arms or hands go numb every night, stay numb for a while after waking up, or start to feel weak during the day, it’s time to see a doctor.”
Warning signs include shooting pain down your arm, trouble gripping things or even dropping your phone more often. Don’t mistake these for annoying symptoms or clumsiness. It’s your body telling you the damage is getting worse.
Bennett said anyone who notices these symptoms becoming more frequent should get checked. “Most cases are manageable and respond well to early, conservative treatment,” he said. Skip treatment, and that’s when trouble starts.
“It’s usually temporary and goes away once you change your sleeping position,” Dasgupta noted. “But if the pressure keeps happening for a long time, weeks or months, it can cause lasting nerve damage.”
Why Your Body Locks Into This Position At Night
Curling up feels comforting. It’s instinctive, like pulling a blanket tighter when you’re cold. However, there’s usually more behind it.
The body slips into self-protection even when there’s no threat. When the nervous system is on high alert from chronic pain, stress, poor sleep or trauma, Bennett said, “we may subconsciously adopt postures that feel safer and less exposed.”
We automatically search for safety during sleep. And for some people, that search runs deeper than others. Judit Merayo Barredo, a clinical psychologist, said she had a patient who came to therapy experiencing chronic insomnia and persistent fatigue.
Every night, her patient would wake up tightly curled, arms pressed to her chest, shoulders hunched in that T. rex position. “She often woke with muscle tension, a clenched jaw, and a feeling of emotional heaviness,” Barredo said, “despite sleeping for hours.” It turns out, Barredo’s client was dealing with heavy anxiety and expressing it in her sleep.
The first goal Barredo set for her patient was calming down her nervous system at night. They tried guided body scans before bed, pre-sleep journaling to get the stress out and also changing her sleep setup. The patient added extra pillows, softened the lights and built a routine she could actually stick to. Barredo said the “shift in her sleep position was one of the first signs that her body was learning to feel safe again.”
Of course, not everyone sleeping in the T. rex position suffers from chronic anxiety. Everyday stress, trauma, poor sleep and regular tension can trigger the same response.
(Don't sleep with your elbow bent! Otherwise it can cause nerve damage)
Simple Ways To Retrain Your Body To Sleep Differently
The problem is willpower doesn’t work during sleep. You can’t tell yourself to stop curling up in the middle of the night. So the aim is to make it physically harder to curl up using barriers and supports.
Bennett recommended something surprisingly simple: wrap a hand towel around your elbow and secure it loosely with an elastic bandage. This creates a soft barrier that makes deep bending uncomfortable without waking you up. If you have wrist pain, a wrist brace at night also helps.
For side sleepers, Sheridan suggests a couple of approaches:
Place a small pillow or folded towel between your arms and chest to prevent that full curl.
Hug a body pillow to keep your arms neutral while giving you something to hold.
If you sleep on your back, rest your arms by your side or on a pillow near the hips. Your arms should stay straight or just slightly bent. Don’t tuck them under your body or pillow.
“Keeping the arms open allows for better circulation, less nerve compression, and faster muscle recovery,” Sheridan explained.
Since this position often reflects a nervous system on high alert, Bennett suggested calming techniques before bed, like breath work or gentle stretching. “The goal isn’t rigid posture correction,” he said. “It’s offering the body more supportive options for rest and recovery.”
If you wake up with numb hands, stiff shoulders, or pins and needles in your arm, you don’t need a total sleep overhaul, just a few small tweaks. Tonight’s the night to make a change. The T. rex couldn’t change its position ― but you can.
.jpg)
