When your hands or feet are falling asleep and the rest of you is awake, that can be due to either an insulin issue or a cardiovascular issue, or both. The cardiovascular issue (heart) should be checked by a qualified cardiologist, just to rule out any immediate serious problems. Usually the issue is from too much stress - emotional, physical, and nutritional. Your body will get in a "sympathetic" overdrive state, similar to a constant fight-or-flight reaction. Resolving the stress will in turn resolve, or wake up, the problem. Carbohydrate intolerance, also know as insulin resistance, can also be the problem. Sometimes this causes just the hands to fall asleep while you're sleeping (if that makes any sense). Many times a person thinks they rolled over and cut off the circulation to the arm so the hand falls asleep. Although this is sometimes true, it is often from a higher than normal insulin level and/or low blood sugar. Try cutting out the sugars, juices, soft drinks (including diet) and reducing overall carbohydrate intake. Also eliminate all hydrogenated fats and all dairy. Hormones, especially cortisol and norepiniphrine from too much stress can also be the problem.

copyright © 2000-2008 by Dr. Stephen Gangemi