system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is it possible to suffer permanent damage if a part of your body "falls asleep" for long enough?
gpt
It's possible depending on how long. Radial nerve compression (one possible scenario of this) is sometimes referred to as "Saturday night palsy" because of passing out with your arm over a chair or something similar. Compression of the nerve over a long enough period of time can lead to effects that may never go away. In this case with radial nerve damage, someone may have a permanent wrist drop and weakness with other forearm and triceps function. This was one of the first nerve differential diagnosis cases we learned about in DPT school- always thought it was crazy.

Edit: Regarding "how long is too long"- it's really an "it depends" situation. People have mentioned getting hand numbness from riding bikes which checks out- often you can press down on the ulnar nerve on a long ride or compress the median nerve through the carpal tunnel. The damage severity will depend on the degree of compression and how long it was compressed. Everybody is wired differently, and situations vary a lot so it's really difficult to give a concrete answer :(