Why do we twitch when falling asleep?

Question

Like when you are just starting to fall asleep and you feel like you are falling so you jump and wake yourself up. Or your hand move or your lig kicks? Why?

Answer 1

One is that hypnic jerks are a natural step in the body's transition from alertness to sleep. As you drift off, your body goes through some physiological changes to prepare for a few hours of restoration. Your breathing rate changes. Your temperature may change. And your muscle tone changes, too. Hypnic jerks, the theory goes, may just be a byproduct of that muscular transition.
I like the second theory better, since it's more specific than the first: This theory says that, as you slide toward sleep, there's a point at which your muscles really let go. Your brain, which after all did evolve from a reptile brain, interprets this rush of relaxation data as a sure sign that you're falling down. And it tells your arms and legs to thrash around and keep you upright -- which, of course, you're not. So your misguided body slugs your sweetheart in the solar plexus.

This explanation dovetails with the mental experience that accompanies many people's hypnic jerks -- the thrash is often accompanied by quick little dreams of falling. They're not exactly dreams, says Mahowald, although scholars are increasingly questioning the definition of dreaming.

The traditional view is that true dreams only visit during REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep, later in the night. But a dopey, dozing-off brain gets its chuckles in the form of modest hallucinations or reveries. These pastimes are more closely related to daydreams than REM dreams. Anyway, Mahowald says about half the people in any given audience to which he speaks admit to the occasional hypnic jerks, and a dream of falling is a frequent companion to the twitch.

Answer 2

Oooh that's a good question! I've heard that it's a reaction to a misguided electrical pulse. I was watching a show about Navy Seal training and they showed some trainees getting some sleep after a long day of training. They were all twitching because they hadn't gotten enough sleep in the past few days. It was 'hell week'. They were only allowed a couple hours before more training the following day.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Why do we twitch when falling asleep?
Like when you are just starting to fall asleep and you feel like you are falling so you jump and wake yourself up. Or your hand move or your lig kicks? Why?

Answer 4

This phenomenon only effected me and my other partners when I or we were actively drinking or using.

I had one girlfriend that twitched alot when she fell asleep, and she never drank or used. However she was taking medication for a liver infection, caused by an ameoba in food we ate in Thailand.

Iv'e been sober for 5 years now, and I never twitch unless I'm very, very stressed. This happens very seldom.

Answer 5

well when ur starting to fall asleep ur body is relaxing but ur brain is still going. i think a lot of us get that falling feeling when we start to dream or something. cuz thats when i get that feeling, and twitch. and when u get the falling feeling ur body twitches cuz of the feeling. its the reaction i think. well when u fall off of a high perch or something dont u like freak out on the way down? i guess its a little like that. but im not 100% sure. i could be really off.

Answer 6

Your muscles finally start to relax after being in constant motion. The twitching happens especially if you have been really tense, it's kind of like a release.

Answer 7

When we were homosapiens we would sleep in trees and when you fall asleep your muscles relax and your brain thinks your falling so it wakes you up.

Answer 8

probably just because we are in transition between being awake and asleep---different parts of the brain taking over

Answer 9

Well.... i tink its sum knid of astral trevelllin' people do wen they are goin to sleep.... I guess its just part of life!!!

Answer 10

periodic limb movement