Transcript
Is this ever happened to you or someone you sleep with? You're not alone. This is called a hypnotic jerk and it's been studied since the 1800s. Welcome back to what the science, weird sleep stuff. Hypnic jerks are a part of a category of involuntary muscle movements called myoclonis, which are sometimes produced by disease dates like seizures or Parkinson's, but can also be totally benign like a hip-up, like a hiccup, or the startle reflex. And it's not just men. Up to 70% of people experience them at some point. more common when younger. They're generally totally harmless, but stress, anxiety, and sleep deprivation can all make them a little bit more common. And targeting those aspects of your life is really the only way to make hypnotic jerks less common. We don't conclusively know what causes them, but one paper theorizes that they date all the way back to when our genetic ancestors used to live in trees and fall asleep there. The brain might sometimes misinterpret the muscle relaxation of falling asleep as you falling out of a tree branch. So it wakes you up pronto. So no yelling at your boyfriend, it's not his fault. But if he elbowed you in the face, tell him I said he should make you breakfast.
Additional notes
Who’s ever experienced this before? #sleep #sleepscience #onthisday