What causes hypnic jerks and why do I get them?

**nobodycares** · 08-20-2010 05:16 AM

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

**AURON** · 08-20-2010 05:39 AM

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

Edit: also moved to sleep and health.

**SystemsLock** · 08-20-2010 04:43 PM

hypnic is actually hypnotic.

**Puffin** · 08-20-2010 11:55 PM

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

**Trevorm7** · 08-24-2010 06:43 PM

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.

**Neo Neo** · 08-27-2010 08:24 PM

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

**kindran** · 01-06-2012 09:10 PM

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...

**Astralghost** · 01-07-2012 10:09 PM

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 orjerk 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 (: