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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.
Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which a person is conscious but in a complete state of full-body paralysis. [1] [2] During an episode, the person may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. [1] [3] Episodes generally last no more than a few minutes. [2]
Abnormal posturing is an involuntary flexion or extension of the arms and legs, indicating severe brain injury.It occurs when one set of muscles becomes incapacitated while the opposing set is not, and an external stimulus such as pain causes the working set of muscles to contract. [1]
Action myoclonus is the most disabling form of myoclonus and can affect the arms, legs, face, and even the voice. It is often associated with tonic-clonic seizures and diffuse neuronal disease such as post-hypoxic encephalopathy , uremia , and the various forms of PME, although, in the case of focal cerebral damage, the disease may be ...
These movements can lead the patient to wake up, and if so, sleep interruption can be the origin of excessive daytime sleepiness. [ 2 ] PLMD is characterized by increased periodic limb movements during sleep, which must coexist with a sleep disturbance or other functional impairment, in an explicit cause-effect relationship.
The victim usually wakes with a feeling of terror, has difficulty breathing because of a perceived heavy invisible weight on his or her chest, and is unable to move i.e., experiences sleep paralysis. This nightmare experience is described as being "hag-ridden" in the Gullah lore. The "Old Hag" was a nightmare spirit in British and also ...
Sleep inertia is a physiological state of impaired cognitive and sensory-motor performance that is present immediately after awakening. It persists during the transition of sleep to wakefulness, where an individual will experience feelings of drowsiness, disorientation and a decline in motor dexterity.
Techniques for extending hypnagogia range from informal (e.g. the subject holds up one of their arms as they go to sleep, to be awakened when it falls), [48] to the use of biofeedback devices to induce a "theta" state – produced naturally the most when we are dreaming – characterized by relaxation and theta EEG activity. [49]