Have you ever been sleeping (or at least, almost asleep) but then you start feeling like you are falling down from a high spot or maybe you start twitching, and then you suddenly wake up right before you stop falling? I have gone through this many times and each time, I felt like I was on a roller coaster or I had just fallen off a tall skyscraper.

There’s a name for this sensation: hypnic jerk. During a hypnic jerk, your body is transitioning from the state of being awake to sleep. Basically, it happens when you’re just about to fall asleep or when you are in a light sleep. Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous!

Why does it happen?

Stress
This probably also explains why teens or adults have more hypnic jerks! Being stressed or anxious when you sleep, can make it harder for you to relax and finally go into sleep mode. Your brain is more alert than normal, so if you ever start falling asleep, your mind won’t let you completely relax and sleep, which can cause a hypnic jerk to wake you up!

Too Much Exercise At Night
It’s great to do exercise. But it becomes an issue if you are doing a lot of exercise, especially right before you go to sleep. You might not think so but exercise makes you more alert, not tired, so just like if you were stressed, it’ll be harder for you to fall asleep, and easier for you to fall prey to hypnic jerks.

Too Much Caffeine
Caffeine isn’t just in coffee, as you might think. Things such as even soda and tea, have caffeine, and drinking too much of those can make you jittery and unable to sleep at night. And just like for all the other factors I mentioned above, this can cause you to experience those annoying jerks when you are just about to sleep.

And once again, do not worry. Hypnic jerks are things that humans are bound to experience at least once in their life! Also, because of the pandemic, we aren’t able to go on roller coasters as often as before, but at least we will get that adrenaline rush from the hypnic jerks! [Just kidding!]