Let’s just be honest, we all have in some way experienced the feeling of falling into a deep sleep – when suddenly, you feel like you are falling and have a slight vibration going through your body, only to find that you are right in the middle of the bed where you should be.
This article will give you the assurance that you are not alone, it happens to many of us.
According to reputable sources, this is known as the hypnic jerk.
The expert information hub, Medical News Today explains the phenomenon saying that it is, “An involuntary twitch of one or more muscles that occurs as a person falls asleep. It tends to occur in stages one or two of sleep and disappear in stage three, which refers to rapid eye movement in sleep.”
In simple words what it means is that they occur when a person transitions from a wakeful state to a state of sleep.
The symptoms include the following:
- Feeling as if you are falling or tripping.
- A sensory flash, which often feels like an electric shock.
- Hallucination or a vivid dream, which is often about falling.
The causes
While this often seems incidental, the result of experiencing this is usually affected by your daily lifestyle which results in these triggers as your body comes to a state of rest.
The medical information hub Health Match explains that up to 70% of people have in some way experienced this in their lifetime.
Factors which may influence experiencing these things include…
- Excessive caffeine or nicotine consumption.
- Vigorous exercise at night.
- Sleep deprivation.
- Stress and anxiety.
Although this experience can be extremely disruptive and annoying, that is typically the only negative effect of it explains bed manufacturers, Sleep Foundation.
Also see: Ways to enhance your sleep naturally
