# Do you ever hurt yourself in your sleep? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 28, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963 "2004-12-28T18:05:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/41 "2012-03-08T13:45:59Z")
Sort of. I woke up, then jabbed a thumb in my eye. Scratched my cornea. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/42 "2012-03-08T14:03:19Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > While sleeping at someone else’s house, I [half asleep] went to get out of bed on the left side and splatted myself into the wall. Gotta get up! Gotta pee! Ahh, that’s better. Now to find my way back to bed in the pitch black. There’s the wall, there’s my door, my bed is right over there. I’m so sleepy! It’s going to feel great getting back into my bed. So warm, so soft, so cozy. I’m not even going to slide into it. I’m going to throw myself onto it! There we go, I’ve fully launched myself into the air over my soft warm cozy bed. Landing on it is going to be awesome! What was I doing earlier tonight? Something busy. Something important. I can’t remember. So sleepy! Oh yeah, now I remember. I rearranged my bedroom. Let’s see, I moved my bed… to way over there. So what’s underneath me right now? Ah, empty space. And a hardwood floor. Ooh, this is going to hurt. _WHUMP_ ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/43 "2012-03-08T16:17:29Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I have also inflicted injury on my boyfriend, apparently I have punched and kicked him a few times in my sleep. This and the other similar stores posted here, could well be relevant to that other recent thread on why certain couples [sleep in separate rooms](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575994) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/44 "2012-03-08T18:38:34Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Gotta get up! Gotta pee! Ahh, that’s better. Now to find my way back to bed in the pitch black. There’s the wall, there’s my door, my bed is right over there. I’m so sleepy! It’s going to feel great getting back into my bed. So warm, so soft, so cozy. I’m not even going to slide into it. I’m going to throw myself onto it! There we go, I’ve fully launched myself into the air over my soft warm cozy bed. Landing on it is going to be awesome! > > What was I doing earlier tonight? Something busy. Something important. I can’t remember. So sleepy! Oh yeah, now I remember. I rearranged my bedroom. Let’s see, I moved my bed… to way over there. So what’s underneath me right now? Ah, empty space. And a hardwood floor. Ooh, this is going to hurt. > > _WHUMP_ LOL In my case it was more "who put that fecking wall there!!! Oh right … " When asked “did you hear that noise in the early hours?” I lied and said no I hadn’t ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/45 "2012-03-08T21:00:54Z")
Twice in the past year, I’ve slept on my arm in such a way that it was sore when I woke up. Otherwise, no, I try to be nice to myself while I’m sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/46 "2012-03-08T21:11:13Z")
When I was about 12, I woke up and thought, ‘hey, my arm kinda hurts.’ Woke up some more and thought, ‘gee, my arm really hurts.’ Came to full wakefulness and thought, ‘WTF, MY ARM! MY ARM!’ Turns out, it was broken (compound fracture). I didn’t do it before I went to bed. I still have no idea how I managed to do this in my sleep. It was only years later that I understood the looks my mom got when she took me to the hospital. They thought I was abused! ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/47 "2012-03-08T22:05:07Z")
When I’m under a lot of stress, I scratch my calves in my sleep. I have no idea why. I’ve woken up on a number of occasions a bloody mess on the backs of my calves and blood and skin under my nails. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/48 "2012-03-09T03:28:59Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > …Unless you count the time I got up to go pee, and realized after I was done that I was facing the wrong way. I hadn’t lifted the lid on the toilet, but on the laundry hamper… Heh. A high school friend of mine, Gary, shared a room with his older brother, who one night (or very early one morning) came back from an evening of heavy drinking. Gary awoke in the dim light to see his brother peeing in the laundry hamper. He said, “Fred, you’re peeing in the laundry hamper! Stop! STOP!” The drunken Fred insisted he wasn’t doing anything of the kind, and Gary couldn’t persuade him otherwise until Fred’s bladder was entirely empty. Left quite a mess. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/49 "2012-03-09T07:07:35Z")
I get mystery bruises quite often. The thing is, I don’t know if I get them in my sleep, or if I just can’t remember whacking that particular limb. I bump into stuff all the time, so both scenarios are equally likely. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/50 "2012-03-09T07:34:06Z")
Never! However, one time when I was getting up out of bed I must have been lying at a funny angle. When I sat up, it felt like someone jabbed a hot knife in my neck. It took a week to get better, and the whole time I couldn’t pop my neck at all (it usually pops incidentally, multiple times a day, through stretching/neck rolls). It must have been a muscle strain, because that shit _hurt._ ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/51 "2012-03-09T09:04:36Z")
Since this thread’s first go round I managed to stop sleeping with my arms over my head. Now I sleep on my right side and over-rotate so that I wake up in pain in that shoulder so now I have to retrain myself to sleep on the left side. I also still get burst blood vessels in my eyes and mystery bruises. I’ve also woken up with a raw patch on my skin on my arm but I think my cat licked me a little too much. My boyfriend has not complained of any sleep abuse lately, either. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/52 "2012-03-09T18:17:01Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I have also inflicted injury on my boyfriend, apparently I have punched and kicked him a few times in my sleep. I’ve hit Mr. Neville a few times while I was sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/53 "2012-03-09T18:23:25Z")
I totally scratch gouges into my shoulders when I sleep. Not always (I just did a quick check and nothing today), but there are very frequently a couple of mystery gouges on my shoulders. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/54 "2012-03-09T18:28:21Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Never! However, one time when I was getting up out of bed I must have been lying at a funny angle. When I sat up, it felt like someone jabbed a hot knife in my neck. It took a week to get better, and the whole time I couldn’t pop my neck at all (it usually pops incidentally, multiple times a day, through stretching/neck rolls). It must have been a muscle strain, because that shit _hurt._ That sounds a lot like my post #37. How the hell do you pull a muscle during sleep? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963/55 "2012-03-10T03:54:14Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That sounds a lot like my post #37. How the hell do you pull a muscle during sleep? I didn’t, I don’t think. Nothing hurt until I lifted my head off the pillow, then _keeerack!_ I must have been lying in the same position all night and moved too quickly. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-hurt-yourself-in-your-sleep/281963.md?page=2)