Body twitches before I fall asleep

[JamesU]

Sometimes, almost every night, when I'm just about to fall asleep, my body shakes orjumps a few inches of the bed. can anyone explain this?

 

[arildno]

You mean like an involuntary twitch in all your muscles, causing you to jump?

 

[hypatia]

If there is no pain,and it only happens once a night, I wouldn't worry about it. My son has restless leg syndrome, the twitch happens more then once and is mostly in his legs but can make his entire body jump.

 

[arildno]

I would think it has something to do with the rather more common "snapping awake" phenomenon (i.e, sitting in your chair dozing, and then with a muscular jerking, becomes fully awake in less than a second)

 

[JamesU]

You mean like an involuntary twitch in all your muscles, causing you to jump?

yes, exactly.

 

[JamesU]

I would think it has something to do with the rather more common "snapping awake" phenomenon (i.e, sitting in your chair dozing, and then with a muscular jerking, becomes fully awake in less than a second)

yes, right again

 

[arildno]

Now, this is just total speculation on my part (I haven't any sort of evidence for it), but perhaps what you (and many others) are having is a basically a natural response occurring erratically because the original provocant of the response is not present any longer.

I'm thinking that when "we" all lived on the steppes and there were lots of dangerous animals prowling about in night-time, those individuals who were better able to snap out of sleep with their muscles fully functional might have an adaptive advantage compared to those that didn't have that ability (at least, they wouldn't be eaten in their sleep..).

So, your ability to do this is on occasion brought into action; perhaps just to keep you fit, or something?

 

[Lisa!]

Sometimes, almost every night, when I'm just about to fall asleep, my body shakes orjumps a few inches of the bed. can anyone explain this?

It happened to me when I was almost in your age. I was about to fall asleep and suddenly I thought I was about to fall from somewhere or fall into a hole and stuff like that and I jumped alittle and sometimes almost sat in my bed. But it doesn't happen to me anymore. Right now other things wake me up. Anyway I think your problem will sort out as you get older.And Perhaps you'll get into other kind of problems problems like insomnia or not having enough time to sleep!

 

[Gaijin]

it might be serious it might not

everyone once -in-a-while, when I am in that almost asleep, but not quite state and I dream that i trip or jump, my body reacts. I think it is just that I have started to dream but am not fully asleep so my body still reacts to mental commands and thoughts. i think thast normal and not serious, but hey just cause it happens to me doesn't mean its ok :P

 

[Evo]

Hypnic jerk

It's called hypnic jerk. Everyone experiences them.

Here's a cute article on it.

http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971114/skinnyon.html

Mine are usually associated with a dream (as I am falling asleep) that I am falling.

 

[JamesU]

it hasný happened to mein awhile now

 

[Evo]

it hasný happened to mein awhile now

It comes and goes.

 

[arildno]

It's called hypnic jerk.
Mine are usually associated with a dream (as I am falling asleep) that I am falling.

That makes sense, because when falling, you are accelerating, and since the jerk is the derivative of acceleration, it is only natural that you should snap awake, or jerk, rather.

 

[Zarathustra1]

It happened to me when I was almost in your age. I was about to fall asleep and suddenly I thought I was about to fall from somewhere or fall into a hole and stuff like that and I jumped alittle and sometimes almost sat in my bed. But it doesn't happen to me anymore. Right now other things wake me up. Anyway I think your problem will sort out as you get older.And Perhaps you'll get into other kind of problems problems like insomnia or not having enough time to sleep!

Something to that effect happened to me once back in high school. I was falling asleep in study hall, and I slipped into a very brief "dream": I was riding my bicycle, and for some reason (it was very vague; I must have hit a bump) my bike flips foward and I was launched over the handlebars. In effect, I "jumped" awake and became very alert, perhaps with the fear that my head would smash into the ground.