Falling

Hypnagogic Myoclonic Twitch. It's not a new dance You know that sensation you get usually when you are about to fall asleep and suddenly you feel the sensation of falling but then your body jolts you out of it just as you start to fall or slideover something curved and then that massive jolt from where or what? Well I wanted to know what that was and here it is. This strange falling sensation and muscle twitch is known as a hypnagogic myoclonic twitch or “Hypnic jerk” . It's also known as a "sleep start," and it can literally startle you out of falling asleep. OK that's not enough information! Why does it happen? This is the best explanation I could find... "The body jerks because it feels like you're falling, and your brain sends out a reflex twitch signal to try to pull you back form the brink. The technical name for this is hypnic jerk, or hypnagogic myoclonic twitch. You feel the falling sensation because your brain literally disengages from the body while you're asleep. This prevents you from moving around too much in your sleep, especially if you have very vivid dreams. Of course we can still move in our sleep, but it takes a lot of stimulus (and usually coming close to being awake again) to overcome the barriers to most muscle movement put in the way by the brain."

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