All mysteries
Mystery #4Tier 2nerves / senses

Why does your foot "go to sleep"?

You sit cross-legged for too long, stand up, and your foot is a useless lump of pins and needles. It feels half-numb, half-buzzing, like fizzy static, and won't quite do what you tell it. A minute later it's completely normal again. Your foot didn't change. So what just happened inside it?

Someone sitting cross-legged, the kind of position that can make a foot 'go to sleep'.
Photo: Chi Chang Wu · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

What's your guess about why a foot goes numb and tingly when you've sat on it, then comes back?

There's no single magic word to type, have a go in your own words, then reveal the answer to see how close you got.

Make a guess to unlock the hints and the answer.