Why your body jerks before you fall asleep

[Skyler]

I developed wicked hypnic jerks from imipramine years back, it was my ticket to klonopin, because the jerks went on for years after my 3 to 4 month stint on that antidepressant. Heh.. the doc told me I was making it up, it was proof I did not want to get well.. ah, what is that magic word. Yes, I was RESISTANT to treatment.

 

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If you have ever wondered why people’s arms and legs twitch suddenly as they are drifting off to sleep, our resident psychologist Tom Stafford has the answer.

 

Why do we need to sleep?

IN BBC NEWS:

 

Sleep app to 'manipulate' dreams

 

A smartphone app for what is hoped to be the world's largest dreaming experiment has been launched.

As we give up our bodies to sleep, sudden twitches escape our brains, causing our arms and legs to jerk. Some people are startled by them, others are embarrassed. Me, I am fascinated by these twitches, known as hypnic jerks. Nobody knows for sure what causes them, but to me they represent the side effects of a hidden battle for control in the brain that happens each night on the cusp between wakefulness and dreams.

 

Normally we are paralysed while we sleep. Even during the most vivid dreams our muscles stay relaxed and still, showing little sign of our internal excitement. Events in the outside world usually get ignored: not that I’d recommend doing this but experiments have shown that even if you sleep with your eyes taped open and someone flashes a light at you it is unlikely that it will affect your dreams.

 

But the door between the dreamer and the outside world is not completely closed. Two kinds of movements escape the dreaming brain, and they each have a different story to tell.

 

To read more.