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A hypnic jerk, hypnagogic jerk, sleep start, sleep twitch, myoclonic jerk, or night start is a brief and sudden involuntary contraction of the muscles of the body which occurs when a person is beginning to fall asleep, often causing the person to jump and awaken suddenly for a moment.
These impairments often result in a decreased attention span; those who consider themselves well-rested may still succumb to drowsiness at inopportune moments. The sopite syndrome may therefore contribute to motor vehicle accidents in which automobile operators fall asleep at the wheel.
The word hypnagogia is sometimes used in a restricted sense to refer to the onset of sleep, and contrasted with hypnopompia, Frederic Myers's term for waking up. [2] However, hypnagogia is also regularly employed in a more general sense that covers both falling asleep and waking up.
According to Dr. Eric Sklar, board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine doctor, insomnia is the inability to get to sleep or stay asleep. It can also be waking up at night or, in the morning ...
Sleep is complicated, but if you find that you’re struggling with falling asleep or staying asleep, there are a few things you can do. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests the following:
Winter brings less daylight and colder temperatures, which can disrupt sleep. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more common in winter due to the lack of sunlight, causing sleep disturbances.
These myoclonic twitches, jerks, or seizures are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions (positive myoclonus) or brief lapses of contraction (negative myoclonus). The most common circumstance under which they occur is while falling asleep (hypnic jerk). Myoclonic jerks occur in healthy people and are experienced occasionally by everyone.
A microsleep is a sudden temporary episode of sleep or drowsiness which may last for a few seconds where an individual fails to respond to some arbitrary sensory input and becomes unconscious. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Episodes of microsleep occur when an individual loses and regains awareness after a brief lapse in consciousness, often without warning, or ...