What makes our feet fall asleep?

We usually prefer sitting cross-legged on the floor or curling up on our couch. And, as soon as we get or move the leg, one of the feet feels like it has fallen asleep, producing a pricking sensation like a thousand needles poking the skin every time we move it. Have you ever wondered why you feel the pricking sensations?

According to Dr. Robert Daroff, who is a professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, when a continuous pressure is exerted on your leg or a distal limb, the arteries in the area become compressed, which makes them unable to supply local tissues and nerve cells with nutrients that are required to function appropriately.
 
In other cases, nerve pathways at times get blocked, which prevents normal transmission of electrochemical impulses to the brain. In this scenario, some nerves, pinched or starved, stop firing while others fire in a hyperactive manner.

Nerves are those tiny wires that run all along your body and function like electric wires that carry messages back and forth from and to all parts of your body, including your brain.

When the blood flow decreases, we feel a little discomfort and then move accordingly to adjust our position. This is necessary as there could be a permanent damage that can happen if the blood flow in the body is restricted and the nerves are compressed for long hours.

If truth be told, ‘Saturday night palsy’ is the name that is given to this condition, which leads to permanent damage when someone passes out in a discomfited position or is in deep sleep and subconsciously can’t respond  to the body’s signals to change position.

Image source: Getty

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