Jalen Hurts’ recent blood-clot scare created one of the stranger sleep stories to come out of professional sports.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was diagnosed with a superficial clot in his left calf while the team was in London for its October 11 game against Jacksonville. According to the Eagles, Hurts had been cleated in the calf during the previous week’s game, and an ultrasound performed in London showed the clot. Doctors reviewed the results, emphasized activity and mobility, and cleared him to play.
Several days later, a follow-up scan showed that the clot had moved. Further evaluation ultimately revealed a deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, along with pulmonary emboli in both lungs. Hurts is clinically stable and expected to make a full recovery, but anticoagulant treatment means he cannot participate in contact football for now and is expected to miss the rest of the season. [1][2]
The medical questions around his treatment are still being reviewed. The NFL Players Association has asked for an investigation, while the NFL has said the medical protocols were followed appropriately. [3]
For anyone interested in sleep, though, one detail was particularly unusual.
Early reporting said doctors had advised Hurts not to sleep the night before the London game as a precaution. That quickly turned into headlines claiming he had played after being awake for roughly 36 hours.
His agent later clarified the story. Hurts had been awake until early Sunday morning undergoing medical evaluation, but he did sleep after rejoining the team, and the Eagles had arranged a room for him at the stadium so he could rest before kickoff. [4]
Nobody involved has publicly explained exactly why avoiding sleep was reportedly discussed in the first place, which makes it important not to turn an unusual medical decision into general advice.
For most people with a blood clot, ordinary nighttime sleep is not considered a risk factor.
The real issue is prolonged immobility.
Sleep and Immobility Are Not the Same Thing
Blood clots such as DVT become more likely when blood flow through the deep veins slows for an extended period of time.
That can happen during prolonged bed rest after surgery or illness, while wearing a restrictive cast, or during a long period of travel where the legs barely move. Injury to a vein, certain medical conditions, previous clots, pregnancy, estrogen-containing medications and inherited clotting disorders can raise risk further. [5]
Sleeping for eight hours is obviously another period when you are relatively inactive, but normal sleep is quite different from being immobilized in a hospital bed or airplane seat.
Healthy sleepers continue moving throughout the night.
One large study that tracked adults in their own beds found an average of about 1.6 major position changes per hour. More detailed video-polysomnography research has also found numerous smaller movements during normal sleep, including stretching, scratching, comfort movements and changes of position. [6][7]
Those movements happen without waking fully and are part of normal sleep physiology.
This is why there is no medical recommendation that healthy people should wake themselves up every hour overnight to prevent a blood clot.
The CDC lists prolonged bed confinement and restricted movement as clot risk factors. Normal sleep is not included on that list. [5]
What Does Happen to Circulation During Sleep?
The cardiovascular system does change while you sleep.
During non-REM sleep, heart rate and blood pressure typically decline as the parasympathetic nervous system becomes more dominant. The heart simply does not need to work as hard as it does during waking hours. Heart rate and blood pressure become more variable again during REM sleep and rise toward daytime levels as morning approaches. [8]
That slowdown is normal and healthy.
It should not be confused with the type of venous stasis that doctors worry about during prolonged immobility.
Your legs contain a network of veins that have to move blood upward against gravity. Movement of the calf muscles helps with that process, which is why walking, flexing the ankles and contracting the calves are emphasized so heavily during long travel.
During normal sleep, spontaneous movement helps prevent the body from remaining completely motionless in one position all night.
Someone who is medically confined to bed, heavily sedated, paralyzed or otherwise unable to move presents a very different situation.
Why the Flight May Be More Relevant Than the Sleep
The travel surrounding Hurts’ diagnosis drew almost as much scrutiny as the decision to let him play.
The Eagles flew from Philadelphia to London shortly before the clot was discovered and then flew back across the Atlantic after the game.
Long-distance travel is an established risk factor for venous thromboembolism because travelers can spend hours sitting with very little leg movement.
The CDC generally uses four hours as the threshold where travel-related blood-clot risk begins to become relevant. The absolute risk for most healthy travelers remains low. Studies cited by the CDC estimate roughly one venous thromboembolism for every 4,656 to 6,000 flights lasting longer than four hours. [9]
The relative risk appears to increase approximately two- to four-fold with long-distance air travel, although studies do not all reach the same estimate and most travel-related clots occur in people who already have at least one additional risk factor. [9]
That distinction is important.
Millions of people take long flights without developing a clot.
The concern rises when long travel is combined with something else, such as a recent injury, surgery, previous clot, obesity, cancer, pregnancy, hormone use or another condition that increases clotting risk.
In Hurts’ situation, the initial clot had already been diagnosed before the return flight. That creates a highly individualized medical situation that cannot be compared directly with a healthy traveler taking a vacation.
Why Contact Sports Complicate Blood-Clot Treatment
Another unusual part of Hurts’ case is his job.
Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are commonly treated with anticoagulant medications, often referred to as blood thinners. These drugs reduce the blood’s ability to form additional clots and help prevent an existing clot from growing while the body gradually breaks it down.
The problem for an NFL quarterback is that anticoagulation and repeated high-speed collisions are a dangerous combination.
Blood thinners increase bleeding risk. A hit that would ordinarily cause a bruise can become much more serious if someone is anticoagulated, particularly if there is trauma to the head or internal organs.
That is why the statement from Hurts and the Eagles specifically said he will not participate in contact activity while undergoing anticoagulant treatment. His prognosis is considered very good, and the expectation is that he can return to football after treatment is complete. [1]
His situation should therefore be viewed as an unusual intersection of an acute blood clot, international travel and a profession where the normal treatment creates an entirely different safety problem.
Where Sleep Does Enter the Blood-Clot Conversation
There is one area where the relationship between sleep and blood clots becomes more interesting: obstructive sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea repeatedly obstructs the airway during sleep, causing intermittent drops in oxygen and repeated arousals throughout the night.
Researchers have increasingly studied whether those oxygen fluctuations, inflammation and cardiovascular effects may contribute to venous clotting.
A large 2026 population study compared more than 133,000 people with obstructive sleep apnea with nearly 630,000 matched controls. After accounting for factors including age, sex, body mass index, smoking, physical activity and other medical conditions, people with sleep apnea had a 68% higher rate of venous thromboembolism. The association was seen for both DVT and pulmonary embolism. [10]
That does not establish that sleep apnea directly causes blood clots.
People with sleep apnea often share other VTE risk factors, and observational studies can never remove every possible confounding variable.
Still, this is no longer an isolated finding. Earlier systematic reviews also identified an association between obstructive sleep apnea and venous thromboembolism, and a 2026 meta-analysis found a high prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing among patients being treated for acute VTE. [11][12]
For anyone who snores heavily, has witnessed breathing pauses, wakes gasping or experiences unexplained daytime sleepiness, that is another reason to take possible sleep apnea seriously.
The Biggest Practical Lesson Is About Movement
For most healthy people, the Hurts story should not create anxiety about going to sleep.
It should make us pay more attention to long periods when we truly are not moving.
Air travel is the most obvious example.
The CDC recommends moving your legs frequently and walking around every one to two hours during long-distance travel. Calf contractions, ankle movements and periodic walking all help keep venous blood moving through the legs. [13]
The same principle applies during long car or bus trips. Stop periodically and walk around rather than sitting for five or six continuous hours.
People with known clot risk factors should talk with a physician before long travel because individualized preventive measures may be appropriate. Compression stockings or medication may be recommended for certain higher-risk travelers, but those decisions depend heavily on the individual.
Hydration also makes sense for general health during travel, although movement has much stronger evidence as a specific clot-prevention strategy. Drinking water should not create a false sense that sitting motionless for eight hours is harmless.
Know the Warning Signs of DVT
One challenge with blood clots is that they can be surprisingly quiet.
The CDC estimates that about half of people with DVT experience no symptoms at all.
When symptoms do appear, they commonly affect one leg and can include:
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unexplained swelling
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calf or leg pain or tenderness
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warmth in the affected area
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redness or discoloration
Those symptoms deserve medical attention, particularly when they appear after prolonged travel or in someone with other clotting risk factors. [13]
A pulmonary embolism requires more urgent attention because a clot has traveled to the lungs.
Warning signs can include sudden shortness of breath, chest pain that may worsen with deep breathing or coughing, a fast or irregular heartbeat, coughing up blood, lightheadedness or fainting.
Those symptoms warrant immediate medical care. [13]
What Sleep Position Can and Cannot Do
It is tempting to bring sleep posture into every conversation about circulation, especially because most people spend seven or eight hours in bed each night.
The evidence does not support telling healthy sleepers that one particular position prevents DVT.
Side sleeping, back sleeping and normal changes between positions are all common. Adults in free-living research spend more than half of their time on their sides on average, but there is wide individual variation. [6]
A good sleep setup still has value because comfort and support can make it easier to move naturally without repeatedly waking from pain or pressure.
That is different from claiming that a pillow or sleep position prevents a blood clot.
At Lagoon, we care a lot about alignment, comfort and making it easier to maintain the sleep position that works for your body. Those things can improve the sleep experience. Anyone who already has a clot or has been told they are at increased risk should follow medical guidance rather than trying to solve circulation concerns through a pillow or sleeping position.
What the Jalen Hurts Story Actually Tells Us
There are still unanswered questions surrounding Hurts’ week in London, and the NFL Players Association has asked for a full investigation into how his care was handled.
His case is also so unusual that it does not translate neatly into advice for everyone else.
An NFL quarterback had a calf injury, developed a superficial clot, traveled internationally, played a professional football game, flew back across the Atlantic and was subsequently diagnosed with DVT and bilateral pulmonary emboli.
Very few people will ever face that exact combination.
The sleep story caught attention because the idea of doctors telling someone not to sleep sounds so strange. The available evidence suggests we should resist drawing a broader conclusion from it.
Sleep is not generally the enemy of circulation.
Long, true immobility is where the concern becomes much more meaningful, particularly when other blood-clot risk factors are already present.
So sleep normally. Move regularly when you travel. Know your own risk factors. Pay attention to unexplained calf pain or swelling, and treat sudden breathing symptoms seriously.
Hurts’ prognosis is fortunately very good, and the expectation is that he will return to football.
For the rest of us, the most useful takeaway is considerably simpler: when the body gives you a warning sign, particularly around circulation or breathing, it is worth taking seriously.
Sources
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Philadelphia Eagles. “Eagles and Jalen Hurts’ Agent Nicole Lynn Provide an Update on QB Jalen Hurts.” October 19, 2026. https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/eagles-and-jalen-hurts-agent-nicole-lynn-provide-an-update-on-qb-jalen-hurts
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Philadelphia Eagles. “Statement from the Philadelphia Eagles on QB Jalen Hurts.” October 15, 2026. https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/statement-from-the-philadelphia-eagles-on-qb-jalen-hurts
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Florio M. “The No-Sleep Issue Is Just Another Confusing Part of the Jalen Hurts Story.” NBC Sports. October 20, 2026. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/the-no-sleep-issue-is-just-another-confusing-part-of-the-jalen-hurts-story
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Understanding Your Risk for Blood Clots with Travel.” https://www.cdc.gov/blood-clots/risk-factors/travel.html
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism.” CDC Yellow Book. https://www.cdc.gov/yellow-book/hcp/travel-air-sea/deep-vein-thrombosis-and-pulmonary-embolism.html
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Skarpsno ES, et al. “Sleep Positions and Nocturnal Body Movements Based on Free-Living Accelerometer Recordings: Association With Demographics, Lifestyle, and Insomnia Symptoms.” Nature and Science of Sleep. 2017;9:267-275. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29138608/
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National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “How Sleep Works: Why Is Sleep Important?” https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep/why-sleep-important
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Kim SY, Sim YJ, Cho J. “Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Venous Thromboembolism Risk: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.” Sleep. 2026;49(5):zsaf344. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41159694/
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Carrera-Cueva C, et al. “Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Among Patients With Venous Thromboembolism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Archivos de Bronconeumología. 2026;62(7):446-468. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41933984/
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Lippi G, Mattiuzzi C, Franchini M. “Sleep Apnea and Venous Thromboembolism: A Systematic Review.” Thrombosis and Haemostasis. 2015;114(5):958-963. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25994924/
