Doctors say that if you sleep in this 1 position, you should sleep immediately

It’s like this every morning. That tingle gets into your fingers. And your shoulder? Tough as always. You stretch your arms and roll your shoulders until the feeling returns. You get up, take it off. Probably nothing, you tell yourself.

Just slept strangely, didn’t it? Probably not. The way you sleep can be a real problem.

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Many do not even know that this is happening. They sleep with their arms resting, but by 3 a.m., they are moving around violently. Lying with arms folded, curled up against the chest, is known on social media as the “T. Rex position.” And while doctors won’t call it that, they warn that doing it night after night can turn those temporary pins and needles into permanent nerve damage.

“When you sleep with your arms bent, you can press on the nerves in your elbows or wrists,” Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a sleep medicine expert and chief medical advisor at Sleepopolis, told HuffPost. “It can slow blood flow and make your arms feel numb or numb. If you do it too often, it can also strain your shoulders and make them stiff or painful.”

According to Dr. Matthew Bennett, A board-certified orthopedic surgeon, some people also develop similar nerve irritation in the wrist, similar to what happens in carpal tunnel syndrome. Keeping your elbows bent all night puts pressure on the nerves as they pass through the narrow spaces.

Turns out, it’s surprisingly common—and it can steadily get worse over time.

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Warning signs doctors want you to pay attention to

Kieran SheridanPhysiotherapist and founder of Golf Physio, sees complaints regularly in his practice. Patients often describe a “dead arm” feeling or the need to shake their arms in the morning. “It’s your body telling you your nervous system is not happy,” he said.

Dasgupta also emphasized on this. “If your hand or arm goes numb every night, stays numb for a while after waking up, or starts to feel weak during the day, it’s time to see a doctor.”

Warning signs include pain in your arm, trouble holding things or dropping your phone too often. Don’t mistake these for annoying symptoms or clumsiness. This is your body telling you that the damage is increasing.

Bennett said anyone experiencing these symptoms frequently should get checked out. “Most cases are manageable and respond well to early, conservative treatment,” he said. Stop treatment, and when the problem starts.

“It’s usually temporary and goes away when you change your sleeping position,” notes Dasgupta. “But if the pressure persists for a long time, weeks or months, it can cause permanent nerve damage.”

Why does your body get locked in this position at night?

Curling up is feeling comfortable. It’s comfortable, like pulling a blanket tight when you’re cold. However, there is usually more behind it.

Even when there is no danger, the body slips into self-protection. When the nervous system is on high alert from chronic pain, stress, lack of sleep or trauma, Bennett said, “we can subconsciously adopt postures that feel safer and less exposed.”

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We automatically seek protection during sleep. And for some people, that search runs deeper than others. Judit Merayo Barredo, A clinical psychologist said she had a patient in therapy who was experiencing chronic insomnia and constant fatigue.

Every night, her sickly curled up, arms pressed against her chest, shoulders hunched into that T. rex position. “He often woke up with muscle tension, a clenched jaw, and a feeling of emotional heaviness,” Barredo said, “even after hours of sleep.” As it turns out, Barredo’s client was dealing with heavy anxiety and was expressing it in his sleep.

The first goal Barredo set for his patient was to calm his nervous system at night. They also tried guided body scans before bed, pre-sleep journaling to de-stress, and changing her sleep setup. The patient added extra pillows, dimmed the lights and created a routine that she would really stick to. “The change in her sleep position is the first sign that her body has learned to feel safe again,” Barredo said.

Of course, not everyone who sleeps in the T. rex position suffers from chronic anxiety. Daily stress, trauma, poor sleep and regular stress can trigger the same reaction.

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Simple ways to train your body to sleep differently

The problem is that willpower doesn’t work when you sleep. You can’t tell yourself to stop curling at midnight. So the objective is to make it physically difficult to curl by using obstacles and supports.

Bennett recommends 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 it uncomfortable to bend deeply without waking you up. If you have wrist pain, a wrist brace at night also helps.

For side sleepers, Sheridan suggests a few approaches:

• Place a small pillow or folded towel between your arms and chest to prevent that perfect curl.

• Hug a body pillow to keep your arms neutral while giving you something to hold onto.

If you sleep on your back, rest your arms at your sides or on a pillow near your waist. Your arms should remain straight or slightly bent. Do not tuck them under your body or pillow.

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“Keeping the arms open allows for better circulation, less nerve compression, and faster muscle recovery,” Sheridan explained.

Because this state often reflects a nervous system on high alert, Bennett suggests calming techniques before bed, such as deep breathing or gentle stretching. “The goal is not drastic currency reform,” he said. “It’s providing the body with more supportive options for rest and recovery.”

If you wake up with numb hands, stiff shoulders, or pins and needles in your arms, you don’t need a complete sleep overhaul, just a few small tweaks. Tonight is the night of change. T. rex could not change its position – byou can

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