Waking Up with Numb or Tingling Hands: What It Really Means (Science Based)

Vitamin B12. Doctors say that a vitamin B12 deficiency can result in nerve damage that causes a person to have numb hands and fingers that tingle.10
Vitamin B6. A vitamin B6 deficiency can start off as numbness and tingling in the feet that eventually spread to the hands. Eventually, a burning pain develops in the limbs. Some research points to the fact that a lack of vitamin B6 can cause carpal tunnel syndrome.11
Vitamin E. Your body needs enough vitamin E to help keep nerves functioning healthily.
Other Reasons for Tingling or Numb Hands When Waking Up in the Morning
Pressed nerves in your shoulder, arms, or hands are the most common causes of your hand falling asleep at night. However, there are some underlying health conditions that can make you wake up with tingling, itching, or numbness in your hands.

Diabetes and numb fingers in the morning
Diabetes can affect the nerves in your hand and cause you to awaken from your sleep every morning with numb or tingling hands. Research carried out by the American Academy of Neurology found out that one of the signs of diabetes is weakness, numbness or tingling sensation in hands or feet. This condition is called diabetic neuropathy and it’s a result of damage to your peripheral nerves.

Doctors say that diabetes tends to cause tingling and itching in the upper limbs more than the lower limbs. Diabetics can also suffer from pain in their arms and muscle weakness. Very often, symptoms of tingling arms are more pronounced in the morning.12

Diabetic neuropathy is also one of the causes of itchy arm or palm.

Stroke
Persistent tingling or numbness in your hands could be a complication of a stroke due to nerve damage in your left arm or right arm.

Doctors from the Mayo Clinic report that uncomfortable chronic tingling sensation in the affected arm or hand is a common stroke complication. In some cases, stroke sufferers find that they lose all feelings of sensation in one of their arms.13

In some cases, waking up in the middle of the night with a paralyzed arm could be a sign of impending stroke. The journal The Neurohospitalist reports that a “wake-up” stroke is when a person goes to sleep and wakes up with stroke symptoms.14

Symptoms of a stroke include:

Paralysis or numbness affecting your arm, leg, face on one side of your body.
Slurred speech
Vision problems
A severe headache
The Mayo Clinic reports that many strokes can be prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices. Taking steps to lower your blood pressure, losing weight, and controlling diabetes can help to lower your risk of having a stroke.

Multiple sclerosis
Waking up with numb hands on most mornings is sometimes associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Doctors from the Mayo Clinic say that multiple sclerosis occurs when the body’s immune system attacks nerve fibers that cause the nerves to degenerate. Numbness or tingling in your hands and other parts of your body is common. Sometimes the pain can be so sudden and severe that it feels like an electric shock.15