Image source: pngegg.com Transcript of a youtube video: You know the sensation: maybe you fell asleep on your arm or you crossed your legs for too long, maybe you smacked your elbow in the funny bone: when you free your arm or uncross your legs and an uncomfortable feeling creeps upon you: a strange tingling sensation that is often described as pins and needles. Now, it's real scientific name is paresthesia, but why does it happen? Since some of the things that cause pins and needles, like crossing your legs, can also restrict blood flow; it's easy to assume that that's what's causing the feeling and it is sort of but not directly. Instead of paresthesia happens when you interfere with sensory nerves, which send information to the brain and spinal cord about things like how fluffy your dog is, or how much pressure you're putting on something, or whether your drink is still cold. When your limbs find themselves in awkward positions, you are restricting those nerv