# Sleep and Dreams > Sleep and Health >  >  What causes hypnic jerks and why do I get them?

## nobodycares

I hope I spelled that right.  What causes them and why do I get sometimes 3 before falling asleep!?

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## AURON

No one knows what causes them. It's probably a coincidence.

Edit: also moved to sleep and health.

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## SystemsLock

hypnic is actually hypnotic.

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## Puffin

They happen when you get really relaxed, although I'm not sure if there's an explanation as to why we get them.

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## Trevorm7

My Hypothesis is that it happens when you start to dream or "hallucinate" but your nervous system doesn't "know" (no paralysis) and reacts to the sudden change of orientation or limb position.

It's happened to me many times while trying the Uberman and Everyman sleep schedules. One time I had a sudden "dream" where I pushed over some furniture, this caused a violent hypnic jerk kick reaction.

It could also be reaction to a sudden noise or anything that would shock you out of a light sleep trance, imagined or real.

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## Neo Neo

This has been happening to me the past few nights; I wonder what causes them too lol.

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## kindran

I saw an explanation in the vido section, they talked about an "organ", I think it is the "earshall", in the ear which starts to vibrate when you get into the sleeping mode. that vibration causes a whitenoise  and that gets interpreted by your mind. I find it interesting, that the things you hear are, at least sometimes, a connection with something persona...

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## Astralghost

When you enter the _hypnagogic_ or _twilight_ state your many of your brainfunctions start to shut down in preperation for sleep. The CNS (_Central Nervous Nystem_) is also shutting down. Along with this process your heart-rate slows down, sometimes it slows down too fast and the limbic system's warning signals is sent out producing a powerfull _twitch_ or_jerk_ forcing you to rapidly wake up and give the transition into sleep another go. It's totally harmless. As a matter of fact, you should be glad when this happens, as it is a sign for healthy brainfunctions (:

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