Why do your legs fall asleep

• May 3, 2024

If you spend a lot of time sitting cross-legged or staying asleep on one side of your body, it's normal for your legs to fall asleep, but do you know what the causes of that are? numbness and how can you prevent it?

According to information published in BBC World , the temporary numbness of a part of the body, mainly the legs, is called paresthesia and is generated by the pressure exerted on the vasa nervorum, which are the small arteries that provide it oxygen and nutrients to the peripheral nerves of the body.

When these arteries are compressed, the nerves are left without oxygen partially and do not receive enough blood supply, which causes them to stop emitting impulses and cause numbness.

In addition, the sensory signals that are emitted from the skin do not reach the brain ; therefore, the leg feels numb and the signals of motor impulses are unable to reach the muscles and we feel that the limb does not respond.

When the tension is reduced, blood it flows again through the arteries, but the nerves recover at a different rate each, so there is heat in the area, tingling and small cramps (as if you were bitten by a needle); These last sensations can be a bit annoying for the person who feels them.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, for its acronym in English) ensures that temporary numbness is normal in all people and is corrected by removing the pressure exerted; however, there are other types of paresthesia that reveal damage to the nervous system.

One of these is chronic numbness, which is often a symptom of an underlying neurological condition or traumatic nerve damage, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis , transverse myelitis or encephalitis, a tumor in the brain or the spinal cord.

That is why it is important that you go to your doctor if you feel any permanent numbness so that through different physical exams and laboratory tests it offers a correct diagnosis. And you, your legs fall asleep very often?

Video Medicine: Why Do Limbs Fall Asleep? (May 2024).