When you’re exhausted and craving some shut-eye, it’s incredibly frustrating to feel like your own body is sabotaging your efforts. For many, the challenge lies in calming a restless mind at bedtime, while others are plagued by abrupt spasms that thwart their attempts to drift off.
This phenomenon has led Dr Sooj Kukadia, an NHS doctor, to delve into the reasons behind these “night time glitches and hypnic jerks” that people experience as they try to wind down from a hectic day. In a TikTok video, he explains: “Do you know someone who glitches in their sleep? This is called a hypnic or hypnagogic jerk and is an involuntary sudden jumping sensation in the body.”
He clarifies the timing of these jerks, noting that they occur during the transitional phase from wakefulness to sleep. He elaborates: “We don’t know what causes it but one theory suggests that our brains gets confused by the signal as we fall asleep and by our muscles relaxing and it thinks we’re falling. It reacts by twitching our muscles. People usually only really notice them if they wake up from their sleep because of these jolts.”
Dr Kukadia also posits that this could be a trait developed through evolution to prevent our ancestors from tumbling out of trees. He points out that these jolts can be set off by various factors including stress, anxiety, physical fatigue, lack of sleep, nicotine and caffeine intake, and excessive exercise before bedtime.
According to the expert, individuals who experience these episodes over a prolonged period or during wakefulness should schedule a doctor’s appointment. In response to his video, one viewer shared: “I was told our brain thinks we’re dying so it gives us a jolt.”
Another viewer mentioned: “I do this all the time.” A third viewer said: “Happens to me every night while I’m trying to get to sleep and also wakes me when deeply asleep. Also suffer from sleep walking, vivid dreams and occasional sleep paralysis.” Another viewer added: “Usually it happens because you are dreaming so your brain gets confused between dream and reality. with me it happens in dreams where I start falling or I am about to fall.”
One viewer commented: “Literally happens every night for me all night. I don’t sleep, I might get like three four hours and that’s a good night. I literally go all the time with no sleep cuz my body just doesn’t allow me to.” Lastly, a viewer shared: “This happens to me after three days of no sleep and it gets so bad I start to get anxiety I hate it so now I do everything I can to keep a steady daily night of sleep.”