Recently I was speaking with a reader of one of my blog posts. We were discussing pillows for better sleep. She mentioned to me that she is getting numbness in her arm as she sleeps. She said she does not have this pain during the day, only at night. She noted that she has to move around to get rid of the numbness. She asked me for any simple changes that she could make because this was beginning to bother her and affect her during the day because her sleep was being interrupted.
Often, if the spine flattens out you get pressure on nerves. This pressure can give you numbness, pain, even weakness. My guess is that her pillow is losing support. With any pillow, there is usually a lifespan. This same thing often even happens to me. If I start to get numbness and tingling into an arm, I know it's time for a new pillow.
There are many people I know who use a feather pillow. Turning, flipping to the other side, fluffing your pillow, only is a short term solution. I think you get used to things but you don't want to get used to a flat spine. The neck spine should have a smooth "C" curve, any deviation from that and we will get nerve pressure and problems whether they present themselves immediately or not.
Additional Reading:
- Does size of neck pillow matter for a good night of sleep?
- Does a Pillow with Contours Help for Neck Pain?
- How to Use the Arc4life Traction Neck Pillow
- Help for Stiff Neck
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