My wife had the same thing of hands falling asleep. She was diagnosed with carpal and went to my Chiropractor who specializes in ART. After 4 sessions no more problems. A neurologist she saw prior to treatment did the tests and found the carpal.
[quote]rubberbubba wrote:
clintthompson79 wrote:
Go see a doc. You need to be checked for carpal tunnel syndrome. I had the exact same symptoms and ended up getting the diagnosis of carpal tunnel. Had the surgery 6 months later, and here I am 3 months after the surgery and my hands/wrists/arms feel better than ever and never go numb.
Interesting thought. My wife is an RMT. She says that Carpal Tunnel is an impingment of the same brachial nerve complex up in your shoulder. The surgery treats the symptom by severing something in your wrist - she couldn’t remember what it was called. She says most people continue to live with the root cause even after the surgery but they just can’t feel it so they think they are cured. I guess, effectively, they are cured. Sort of the surgical version of “it hurts when I do this” “don’t do this then”. Y’know.
RB[/quote]
My arms fall asleep due to pinching the nerve in my elbow when it makes contact with the bed.
I sleep best on my stomach, but that makes it worse.
So what I do is put one pillow under my belly and one under my chest so the upper part of my body is elevated a bit. This way my arms hand down a bit removing some of the body weight pressure running through my arms which drive my elbows into the mattress.
A soft mattress makes it worse because your core body sinks in, leaving your arms “above you” which puts more pressure on them.
I think the ultimate for me would be one of those massage tables where you place your face into a hole and let my arms hang off the side 
Well, not complete hang, but you get the idea.
OK. That settles it, then. Pinkies are the worst offender. They feel like they are about to explode of my hand and thppppttt! around the room like a balloon.
So, it must be the elbow thing. I’ve been aligned, I guess maybe accupuncture is next, eh?
RB
Oh yeah, my eblow pinching definitely causes my pinkies and fingers closest to them to get numb as hell. Its the nerve, not blood circulation.
Ive also put on an elbow brace to help with this. The pointy part of your elbow sticks out the hole, and the extra padding around your arm near your elbow supports your arms weight instead of the actual elbow.
This way your eblow doesnt get pinched.
I hope the rest of you is falling asleep as well! (Sorry, it just had to be said.)
On a more helpful note, I suggest you check that your pillow height is sufficient to keep your spine in neutral alignment when you sleep on your side. A shaped pillow that supports your neck would help as well. IMO the latex ones are best, because they don’t end up compressed out of shape.