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Original poster

Sleep with arms raised. wtf?!

46 replies

PavlovtheCat · 10/09/2015 21:30

recently started to wake to find me on my back with both arms in the air. or on side with one arm up, or sometimes holding hands together in the air, or rubbing the hands or arms with each hand. it wakes me as obviously not meant to happening and my arms hurt because the muscles are tense in that position for goodness knows how long before I wake up.

Sometimes, not often, have acted something out in my sleep, with hands/arms, like waving them if I am waving in my dream, or going to shake someone's hand.

It's only been the last couple months. I mentioned to the doc when talking about something else; a locum who looked at me like this and then shrugged. Suggested maybe due to some neck pain that I have. I wouldn't be surprised if it's this causing the neck pain. it's not pain related, the reason for doing it, I am sure.

Any suggestions? Anyone have it?

OP posts:

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nmg85 · 11/09/2015 10:32

My partner does the arms in air and rubbing up and down with other hand I know this as it drives me nuts as its usually when I am just about to fall asleep. He often doesn't know he has done it and I usually gently push his arms down. He seems to do it more when stressed.

Original poster

PavlovtheCat · 11/09/2015 21:25

oh well it's good to know it's not just me! I am not more stressed now than I have been at other times in my life. But have had new meds/change of meds recently for long term health condition. Maybe that's related to it? It's bloody weird whatever's causing it. I figured our muscles are supposed to relax when we are asleep and it happens in dream state as it sometimes wakes me up from it, like if I shake someones hand or something, I wake up to find myself doing it for real.

OP posts:

toffeeboffin · 12/09/2015 02:01

My DH does this too.He didn't believe when I told him. Not sure how long he does it for, I usually fall asleep before getting past about a minute...

thundernlightning · 12/09/2015 02:43

Oh, gosh, yes, I do this too.

Sometimes I wake up with one or both arms above my head, sometimes I'll have reached up with my left arm only to reach back down to grasp my shoulder blade on that side, and my whole arm will be pins-and-needles. It's really uncomfortable!

I am reliably informed I snore like a sawmill when I'm doing that.

littledafty · 12/09/2015 02:53

My DH does this! I wake up and he's got both arms up and is rubbing his hands together. He's fast asleep when he does this.
I've no idea why, I'm kind of glad to hear other people do it to!

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 12/09/2015 02:59

Do any of your new meds have sleepwalking or similar as possible side-effects, Pavlov? It does sound like the bit of your brain that switches off movement while you're sleeping is being overridden, and if it coincides with your new meds, then it makes sense to me that there might be a link.

Can you stop the new ones and see if the arm issue also stops? Or is that too risky?

Original poster

PavlovtheCat · 14/09/2015 00:10

I have read the side effects and it's not listed. But, I definitely think it has to be, as nothing else has changed significantly. And it's pretty regular, not just one night here and there, most nights now. I hope it doesn't increase and I start doing stuff like actual sleepwalking! I can't really stop the meds. Not dangerous, but it won't be a good idea really, without medical advice. If it gets worse, I'll speak to GP about changing them.

thunder interestingly, DH has said that I am not really snoring much laying on my back at the moment, and usually I snore quite heavily if I am on my back.

I don't normally sleep on my back, but seem to end up there a lot as I often lay on my back thinking about things and falling asleep there and not moving.

Oh and YY to the pins and needles with the arm stuck in the air.

I'm pleased to find I am not the only one too littledafty and yes that's exactly what I do, as well as sort of rubbing my lower arms, hand wringing, or just stuck up in the air!

OP posts:

Original poster

PavlovtheCat · 14/09/2015 00:16

just looked on a different site and sleepwalking is listed as one of the like million possible side effects of the medication! more than 1 in 10,000 people, so relatively rare side effect. Hopefully it doesn't manifest into anything more than what it already is, and maybe even eases off! It's driving me bananas!

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Bodeb · 23/11/2019 12:31

I have been doing the arms in the air many yrs now...my personell opinion is its strsss related...havnt found out anything. Your the 1st one i read like me.. i dont have pain tho...i did see a tik tok vid of a young boy doing it

managedmis · 25/11/2019 01:37

DH does it. He does it around 45 mins after falling asleep

Never noticed him doing it later than that (but maybe that's because I'm asleep?)

4mber · 19/12/2019 12:25

@PavlovtheCat @nmg85 @thundernlightning @Bodeb @toffeeboffin @littledafty

It could be 'periodic limb movement disorder'

My boyfriend does something very similar, I've noticed he's been doing this for a while.... When he sleeps on his back he raises one of his arms up in the air and then the other arm reaches towards it and scaratches it and rubs it for a few seconds. This happens multiple times, I've told him about it and he says he doesn't realise he's doing it.
He's a very light sleeper and I can hear that he gets blocked up slightly when he sleeps.

So I tried googling it just now and found this:

periodic limb movement disorder

It seems like this could be it, usually more so in legs when you get restless leg syndrome, however apparently it can go to the upper body too, have a google this could be the answer :)

ChristmasVag · 19/12/2019 20:06

I do this
It’s v relaxing
Sometimes I wake with them waving in the air
Sometimes I find myself doing it watching telly .... Arm up in the air
It’s a form of stretching I think...

I never knew it was weird, just part of my ChristmasVag-ness
But so nice to hear it’s not just me!!

AngryMachine32205 · 31/08/2020 23:31

I do this, I wake up sometimes with my arms raised and I will alternate kinda of tickling up and down each arm with the other, while arms raised I will also tickle the palms of my hands; personally I think this is a form of self soothing.

CrepuscularCritter · 01/09/2020 13:52

Rather random, but have you had a previous arm injury? Sometimes mine assumes the position it had during nearly a year in plaster. Doc reckons the muscles just revert to that position. When I lie on my back, it folds over the top of my head, and if I lie on my side, it sticks straight up in the air from my elbow.

Jude2449 · 04/07/2021 06:52

Christmas Vag, I too find this very relaxing and soothing. I don't wave or scratch I just have my hands together. I am not on any medications, am not under stress, nor have I injured my arm. It doesn't bother me that I do it.

swapsicles · 04/07/2021 06:59

I've done this before except when I did the blood ran to my arm and stayed there, making it difficult to lift back to a normal position when I woke up, very weird!
Not done that in years though sometimes I'll sleep with my hand folded over and my hands are numb for a few minutes

Tanaqui · 04/07/2021 08:43

I do it sometimes- with the stroking/scratching, and I think it might be connected to lymphatic drainage- if you look at lymphatic drainage massage it is really similar!

BekiBubs · 23/08/2021 08:28

Oh my goodness! My estranged husband did this and it was so eerie to wake up to. Middle of the night... I'd startle awake and look around for what woke me and he'd be there on his back.. out cold... snoring.. but with one arm straight up in the air and his other gently stroking his fingertips up and down his forearm... repeatedly. I was so weirded out... but now I'm even more weirded out by it because this exact same movement happens to others and like... why? How could something so random and completely not conscious be common?? Whoa.

Feelingmardy · 23/08/2021 08:57

I pretty much always wake up with my arms folded above my head. My kids sleep like that too. I don't see it as a problem really. I can get woken by joint pain in many sleeping positions.

BekiBubs · 23/08/2021 12:16

@Feelingmardy
Not above your head and lying on the pillow. Up... in the air... like a flagpole. The other arm also up... but stroking up and down to gently tickle the forearm. Which does feel nice! But in your sleep??

kategale · 10/10/2021 17:23

i know im pretty late to this thread but i am so glad to find it! warning for a pretty long little ramble!
i do this — i wring my hands, lace my fingers together, crack my fingers, run my hand up and down my arms, even stroke my face in my sleep with no clue that i’m doing it at all. i was told that i did it by a friend when i was at summer camp a couple years ago (im 19 years old now), so i started setting up a motion detector camera at night to capture my movements. it happened almost every night, a couple episodes a night for only about a minute then i would turn over and go back to sleep. i went to a sleep doctor who diagnosed me with sleep apnea and thought it could be a result of a lack of oxygen, and the way i move doesn’t fit periodic limb movement disorder, as they aren’t jerks or sudden movements. when sleep apnea treatment didn’t change the amount i moved in my sleep, they then referred me to a neurologist, where then i was referred to the epilepsy specialists as they believed it was some sort of seizure. i stayed for a week in the epilepsy unit on constant monitoring. apparently i didn’t do it when i was there (which i find very hard to believe!), but they said it was odd but still fit some parameters of seizures enough to still diagnose me with epilepsy. i am not sure if that is what it is (i do trust the professionals, but its curious that they don’t have an answer or even have heard of anything like this), the meds i was taking didn’t seem to change the amount i moved in my sleep. i don’t move oddly during my waking hours so it is interesting that this only occurs during my sleep. according to sleep studies, i do arouse slightly when this happens, which interferes with my sleep patterns, but it also only happens during i believe my first stage of sleep (I can’t quite remember right now).

anyway, i seriously thought i was the only person who did this until i saw this thread, and i am so relieved i am not alone! i have been trying to find other people who experience this and have found nothing that’s like what i experience until now. i would love to speak to people about their experience or if anyone has footage of themselves/their family members to compare with mine! it would mean a whole lot to me, and maybe we could get some answers! has anyone been told anything about what it may be? maybe even epilepsy related? do let me know!

HPmagic · 10/10/2021 21:49

My husband does this also but never thought anything of it just a weird quirk he has

Surely2God · 04/12/2021 06:32

I feel the same as a few of you have said, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I've been married nine years to my wife now and she recently showed me a recording of me doing this. She said I've done it since we've been married but it's only occasionally and doesn't seem to have any reasons. It really made me feel like I was a little crazy.
I did seven years in prison and one of the things I used to do to self soothe was rub up and down my arms lightly, giving myself goosebumps. I can't explain why but it's very calming to me.
It also gives me a chuckle to think that the guys in prison must've thought I was insane if I did this because it was dormitory style with just rows and rows of beds. I can just picture them walking past me as I lay snoring with my arms up in the air 😂

JanayeMacDonald · 06/12/2021 04:59

Omg my partner does this and I came looking for answers and found this. His sister actually does the same thing Aswell, so it’s like it runs in the family, they’ve done it since they were young however they’ve never slept in the same bed as kids or anything.

Usually I think it’s when he’s in a light sleep as it’s usually when I’m still awake and I might disturb him in his sleep by moving in bed sometimes

But he raises both arms in the air, and then usually itches the palms of his hands, then proceeds to stroke his arms up and down with the tips of his fingers hahah it looks super sensual. Now he also sometimes will crack his knuckles together before he puts his hands together and lays them back down on his chest, and he also then grinds his teeth and kind of moved his mouth around a for a couple of seconds like he’s eating something lol before settling and stopping

I do have videos of it so I’ll have to go and find them but god it makes me laugh. But I’d also love to know why he does it.

I always knew his sister also does it and got told about it when we first started dating but I can’t believe other people do it and it sounds like the exact same thing!!

dwalk102 · 13/02/2022 10:30

hey, this literally happened to me a few minutes ago and i was so weirded out… did you ever figure it out ?

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