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After a hard day’s work and fatigue, when we lie down on our bed to get a peaceful sleep at night, both the body and the mind gradually start going into a state of relaxation. Our eyes close, breathing slows down and we are about to step into the world of dreams when suddenly something strange happens to us which shakes us. We feel as if we are falling rapidly down a very tall building, mountain or deep abyss. With this terrible feeling, there is a sharp shock in our body and our eyes suddenly open wide. Heart beats faster and for a few moments we do not understand what has happened to us. In the world of science and medicine, this common but mysterious experience is called ‘Hypnic Jerk’ or ‘Sleep Start’. This experience is so real and scary that sometimes a person becomes sweaty out of fear, but the science behind it is very interesting.
After all, this question comes in everyone’s mind that when we are completely asleep, why does this movement suddenly arise in the body. According to neurologists and sleep experts, hypnic jerk is a type of involuntary muscle contraction that occurs when the body is transitioning from a state of wakefulness to the beginning stages of full sleep. To understand this entire process, we have to understand the nervous system of the human body. When we sleep in bed, our brain tries to put our body into a resting state. During this time, our heart rate starts decreasing, blood pressure starts falling and muscle tension gradually starts reducing. But sometimes the control center of the brain and our muscles are not able to coordinate this transition properly. The brain starts getting the illusion that the body’s balance is deteriorating or that we are falling down somewhere. To deal with this confusion, the brain immediately sends an emergency signal to the muscles, due to which the body suddenly contracts or jerks and we immediately come out of sleep.
Actually, having hypnic jerk is a very common physical activity and almost every person experiences it at some point in life. But there are some special circumstances due to which this problem starts occurring more frequently or with greater intensity. The biggest reason is excessive mental stress, anxiety and fatigue caused by running around throughout the day. When the mind is overthinking, it cannot easily fall into deep sleep. Apart from this, consuming excessive amounts of caffeine i.e. tea, coffee or energy drinks just before sleeping at night also keeps the nervous system stimulated. Irregular sleeping habits, not having a fixed time to sleep, lack of water in the body or the effect of certain medicines can also trigger such tremors. When the body is completely tired but the brain remains highly active, this mismatch between the two promotes more of these jerks in the early moments of sleep.
Often people get worried by associating such jerks with some major neurological disease or heart problem, but doctors believe that occasional hypnic jerks are completely normal and do not cause any harm to health. This is a sign that your nervous system is functioning normally and responding quickly to protect the body. However, if this problem increases too much and your sleep starts getting disrupted every night due to this, then it can take the form of insomnia or sleep disorder. To avoid this, the most important thing is to improve your lifestyle. Stop using any type of gadgets at least two hours before bed, sleep in a quiet and dark room, and stay away from caffeinated substances before bed. Regularly doing pranayam, meditation or light stretching reduces mental stress, which helps both the body and mind to get peaceful sleep and you can get relief from such strange tremors.