Are sleep twitches divided into those that wake yourself up and those that wake others up?

Image source: Tuchong Creative

I was sleeping soundly when suddenly I felt something click. What on earth is this sudden feeling of stepping into empty space?

This sudden "window shaking" can be divided into two situations: a "click" that wakes you up, and a "click" that wakes others up.

The former is mostly hypnic jerking, which means that the body jerks suddenly when one is about to fall asleep. During this process, there is often a feeling of falling or stepping into empty space, and sometimes vague dreams.

This is because when we sleep, the nerves in the brain are in a state of inhibition, but a small number of nerves are still relatively active. Among them, motor neurons are included. Due to insufficient inhibition during sleep, motor neurons may spontaneously discharge abnormally. This is reflected in the body as muscle twitching.

This twitching pattern is often a sensation of electric shock throughout the body. The triggering conditions are often excessive fatigue, high work pressure, strenuous exercise before bedtime, etc. It is generally normal and does not affect your health.

Another type of convulsion during sleep that wakes others up is mostly muscle twitching.

Human sleep can be divided into five stages: falling asleep, light sleep, deep sleep, deep sleep and rapid eye movement. In the second and third stages, the brain releases a spindle-shaped brain wave called sleep spindle. When this brain wave oscillates violently, it may be accompanied by a sudden twitch of local muscles in the body. Researchers believe that this is the brain learning or consolidating the corresponding relationship between nerves and muscles. Therefore, this kind of muscle twitching often occurs in infants and young children. They sleep all day long, which is "twitch sleep learning."

However, since sleeping tablets can also protect sleep and avoid waking up, when muscle spasms occur, I am often in an unconscious state while sleeping.

Generally speaking, occasional sudden twitching during sleep is normal. If the twitching during sleep is too frequent or too severe, or even accompanied by symptoms such as headaches and dizziness, it is very likely that the body is sending you an alarm. If necessary, you have to go to the hospital to consult a professional doctor.

Source: WeChat official account of China Science and Technology Press

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