What's that Strange, Falling
Sensation?
Do you ever wake up suddenly
to a falling sensation and a strong muscle twitch just after you have
fallen asleep?
For many years, I linked to
the following article on the FailedSuccess website. Finally, that
website has closed. The article and the comments attached to it are too
important to simply be lost forever, so I'm copying them to my site.
I'll be happy to credit the article, if a credit is available, although
it appears much of it was copied directly from an old Wikipedia
page.
That Strange Falling Sensation
Do you ever wake up suddenly to a falling sensation and a strong muscle
twitch just after you have fallen asleep?
This strange falling sensation and muscle twitch is known as a
hypnagogic myoclonic twitch or 'Hypnic jerk' If this has happened to you
on more than one occasion, don't worry, you are not alone. Close to 70
percent of all people experience this phenomenon just after nodding off,
according to a study at the Mayo Clinic.
Most experts agree that this is a natural part of the sleeping process,
much like slower breathing and a reduced heartbeat. The occurrence is
well known and has been well documented. However, experts are still not
completely sure why the body does this.
The general consensus among researchers is that, as your muscles begin
to slack and go into a restful state just as you are falling asleep;
your brain senses these relaxation signals and misinterprets them,
thinking you are falling down. The brain then sends signals to the
muscles in your arms and legs in an attempt to jerk you back upright.
This misinterpretation that takes place in your brain may also be
responsible for the 'falling' dreams that accompany the falling
sensation. These 'dreams' are not really normal dreams, as they are not
produced from R.E.M sleep, but rather more like a daydream or
hallucination in response to the body's sensations.
While this phenomenon happens to most everyone, studies have recently
begun to link occurrences of 'Hypnic jerks' to sleep anxiety, fatigue,
and discomfort. People who are having trouble sleeping or can't get
comfortable in bed appear to experience the sensation more often
throughout the night. It is especially more common with people who are
trying to fight falling asleep or have deprived themselves of sleep for
more than 24 hours.
Researchers believe that the lack of sleep from sleep anxiety or sleep
deprivation confuses the muscles and the brain. The muscles continually
attempt to relax and shut down for rest, while your brain remains awake
creating continued 'misinterpretations' of falling or loss of balance.
Scientists and researchers continue to study sleep twitching and jerking
in a small capacity, but state that the sensation is completely normal
for our bodies and is of little medical significance. Our bodies go
through several procedures of shutting down and preparing for an
extended period of rest. 'Hypnic jerking' is just one of them. It
doesn't appear to cause damage to body and poses no danger to our
physical wellbeing. That may be true, but it could pose a significant
danger to my bed when I mess my pants next time I wake up thinking I
just fell off of a building.
The comments below are more important than the article.
Comments
Posted by kaytastrophe on 10/05/09 at 12:45 PM
This happens to me like a couple times a month, I'll be dozing off (but
not completely asleep yet) then it feels like I'm falling of a high
building and then when I open my eyes it stops.
Posted by Gurly on 07/23/09 at 10:55 AM
I've also had the sleep paralysis problem before. I'm going to say this
honestly: it was truly one of the SCARIEST moments of my life.
I was staying in a hotel room this winter and I slept. I woke up
(mentally). I could hear my brother and sister next to me but my eyes
wouldn't open. I wanted to open my eyes because its natural to do so
after waking up. I tried to move my hands and fingers but I was frozen
to the spot. My entire head was screaming for someone to come and shake
me to wake up but my lips wont move and neither would my lungs. I could
hardly breathe.
It only lasted 7 seconds.
I was also jet lagged.
Scary stuff.
Posted by Rockay on 07/22/09 at 09:57 PM
I'm glad I'm not alone on these things.
It happens quite commonly (I'm a teenager). Sometimes once or twice in
one month or sometimes once a week, sometimes never in a month. It only
happens when I'm lying on my back. It also only happens when I'm JUST on
the edge of falling into a calm sleep. I'm sort of half asleep and half
awake.
When it happens I feel myself fall down quickly and I wake up
milliseconds from the experience. Like the mattress under me is pulled
away and I just sink in breakneck speeds.
My brain keeps me from seeing this longer and seeing what happens if I
actually 'fall down' so I wake up with a jolt that gets my heart racing
and takes my breath away for a second. Its absolutely awful to feel, but
I get over it quickly.
I wish I could avoid this feeling because I dread it will happen again
that night.
Its never happened twice in one night.
That's my story, I guess. :)
Posted by Rockay on 07/22/09 at 07:57 PM
I just had this feeling of falling (the jerk feeling) twice during a ten
minute nap a few minutes ago. I just closed my eyes and had a dream that
I was just sitting down on a bench, then the sudden jerk. I closed my
eyes again, I was in a different dream that I was just stepping in a
puddle of water, and I slipped and I jerked again. closed my eyes one
last time until my alarm woke me up a minute later. two dreams, two
jerks, within ten minutes. any ideas?
Posted by ctl on 07/22/09 at 11:34 AM
THANK YOU!
GREAT ARTICLE,
IT REALLY HELPED ME A LOT!!
Posted by MIA on 07/21/09 at 12:14 PM
Thank gosh. It happens to me a lot and I was scared something was
happening.
Posted by Candy on 07/14/09 at 10:03 AM
I get these, especially when I've been really busy at work and have been
over exerting my body doing exercise etc.
Also, I wonder if the release of the 'triptamine' chemicals in the body
during sleep has anything to do with the strange dreams and experiences
people have when they have a hypnic jerk.
I usually get hypnic jerks just when I'm trying to sleep, or in the mornings
when I wake up, but then set the alarm forward and try and get another
10 minutes or so in. But I also have the most vivid dreams during these
times.
Posted by Josh in Aussie on 03/12/09 at 07:07 AM
I get the hypnic jerks and I also get a weird spinning sensation. I
don't get it as often now but as a young child to get myself asleep I
would close my eyes and spin myself round imaginarily. This would get me
to sleep, but eventually after a while I couldn't control this feeling.
So I would spin and not be able to get to sleep, my legs would feel numb
as if they were moving round and round. Does anyone else have this
problem?
Posted by booyouwhore2304 on 03/08/09 at 10:53 AM
Here's my experiences:
Only ever happens when sleeping on my back.
My first encounter was a feeling of falling and wanting to get out of
it.
The harder I tried to wake up, the harder it was. So naturally,
something made me relax and I eventually woke up. I think relaxing is
the key to anyone having problems with this.
I've sort of gotten used to when it happens, so if I start to feel the
falling feeling, I actually seem to be able to relax myself to a
'floating/hovering' phase WITH the ability to control myself around my
bedroom. It is CRAZY!!!!!!!
The other night I felt as though I had floated down to the carpet/floor
next to my bed, then back up, and over (sideways) to my desk. I could
have gone back and forward as many times as I wanted.
The brain is an amazing thing.
Usually now I just get a bit bored with it and wake myself out of it -
but it's always a surprise to find that I've been in bed the whole time.
Posted by floater-in-control on 03/07/09 at 06:51 AM
Wow, that must be crazy!
Posted by Anonymous on 01/25/09 at 12:36 PM
I have these terrible episodes too! They are quite frightening. It
always happens right when I'm starting to doze off. I feel like I'm being
sucked into the bed and usually fall into a state of anxiety and I cant
tell whether I'm awake or asleep. Its hard to explain but during the
episodes I hear really loud screaming and terrifying little nightmares
and I fight to open my eyes and get out of that state but its very hard
and I fall right back into it. I have to fight to wake my self up and
have very rapid heart rate and terrible anxiety. Is this just do to
stress? I never know when I am going to get them and its so scary. Last
night I had this. I was falling asleep and again I felt like I was being
sucked in and I heard terrible screaming and demons appear and try to
attack me and I fought so hard to open my eyes because its like I'm
conscious of what is happening but its so hard to tell when I am finally
really awake. Does anyone have any advice on how to fight this? Maybe
some kind of relaxation technique before I decide to go to bed - yoga?
something!? please! thanks.
Posted by G. on 01/18/09 at 01:55 PM
I noticed that my husband jerks his head many times while he's asleep.
And he always sleeps on one side of his head. Is this normal? And he
snores too. I'm more worried about his head jerking. Please advise.
Thanks!
Posted by Redge on 01/03/09 at 10:44 AM
dear someone, I have not yet experienced a falling sensation but, I have
felt like I was rising into the air when in fact I was laying down on my
couch. please keep in mind that I had a bad case of the flu during that
time.
Posted by bnm on 12/29/08 at 10:49 AM
I experienced it frequently every night when I started working out
vigorously but it fades gradually when I had weeks of physical rest.
Posted by Disk on 12/09/08 at 07:26 PM
Falling? I some times get a floating sensation but never falling.
grand canyon tours
Posted by visitor on 12/03/08 at 10:21 AM
Every night, a little while after I nod of to sleep I get these sudden
jerks. Its like when someone scares you and you jump. It doesn't really
bother my sleeping but I'm concerned that something maybe wrong with me.
Posted by WorriedJerk on 12/02/08 at 07:30 PM
I also have the 'hypnic jerk' from time to time. Another feeling that I
sometimes haves a warm sensation in the brain. I begin to feel a little
faint, then it is as if the blood starts flowing again. It feels just
like a lukewarm liquid is flowing through my brain just after the faint
period. This happens probably three times a month.
What could this be?
Posted by enufodis on 11/26/08 at 08:48 PM
I think my hypnic jerking probably is related to stress, as wasn't as
stress before but just 2nights ago I had the hypnic jerk during my
dream. The worst thing is that it's freaky how you just jolt your whole
body, but it's funny that it happens.
Posted by didi on 11/15/08 at 02:34 PM
Um....I woke up suddenly one night and I wasn't breathing. I looked up
and saw a black figure. And as soon as I turned it went away. What does
it mean??
Posted by alexx♥ on 11/11/08 at 07:46 PM
I get these 'hypnic jerks' when I've woke up in the night and just stayed
in bed, and started to drop off again, then I'd get these spasms. It is
painful at the time (but I guess it's nothing) they feel as though they
lasted for around 2 minutes, am I right do they last that long>
Posted by simonb on 08/28/08 at 10:13 PM
I have done extensive research on this topic and have learned that the
Myoclonic twitch or Hypnagogic jerk is a very normal part of sleep for
most people. My experience started about six years ago when I would jerk
or twitch right before falling asleep and this caused me to have severe
sleeping problems and eventually turned into insomnia. After thousands
of dollars spent on doctors with no answers, I decided to study this
myself? I learned that it is directly related to stress or anxiety. I
found that my high stress job and 3 beautiful kids caused me to worry
and when my stress level was high, I would have these episodes. These
episodes usually lasted about a month or longer until I was able to
relax again and my sleep pattern would return to normal. If you can
learn to relax and settle your mind it will definitely help with these
annoying little twitches. The more you worry about them and your sleep
the worse it will get. So relax, breathe deep, and remember you're
normal........
Posted by ty on 03/22/08 at 01:50 PM
I experience this in a high tension every 3 weeks to 3 months
but studies say it happens every night
Posted by wowtatrane77 on 03/08/08 at 08:52 AM
I have had a problem for years that seems to be connected with high
anxiety and I also suffer panic disorder. It stays under control most of
the time but when under a lot of pressure it overcomes me again.
When I am drifting off to sleep I have a startle response my stomach
muscles go into spasms. I have to sit up and concentrate on relaxing to
get it to stop. When I am very tense or overtired this happens but only
seems to happen as I am drifting off this can go on over and over during
the night and I cannot sleep till I finally get so exhausted I fall
asleep with no problems.
Posted by hannah on 02/23/08 at 11:57 PM
I experience this falling sensation quite often. Also often I have
extremely strange confusing weird little dreams or sequences right
before going to sleep or waking up, I often spend a long time thinking
about them when I wake up and they stress me out cause they are so
strange! also I have had 2 instances where just before sleeping hearing
music playing, one time was like a guitar perfect sound quality and a
lovely tune but was all in my head.. amazing.
Posted by SABz on 02/18/08 at 06:12 PM
one time I woke up and found myself looking through my arms, and I mean
it. My arms at that time were invisible. I was totally in control of my
body at that time too. I found that really strange. Then I sat myself up
and looked at the TV at that time reflecting the moon light, and I could
not see myself in there. So I laid right down and managed to wake myself
up. I woke up in the end, that was really creepy!
Posted by Dave B. on 02/03/08 at 07:29 AM
Hi I'm just worried about my 2 yr old son, I just noticed the twitching
and jerking of his leg like 3 nights ago. usually it's his left leg that
twitched more and it's kinda disturbed him from sleeping. so I stayed up
and watched him and counted how many times in an hour it twitch 10 to 15
times in an hour .
Posted by alou on 02/03/08 at 05:20 AM
I've had many twitches that were accompanied by falling sensations and
dreams, but also I have been throwing objects and making movements that
followed through into the spasm before too
Posted by me on 01/22/08 at 11:07 PM
I have during my life experienced a lot of sleep associated (what I
thought were anomalies), including vivid dreams, audible and visual
hallucinations, feelings of falling etc. I can usually relate these to
stress, lack of sleep etc. But the problem I have currently is what I
thought was termed hypnic jerks, but most people seem to experience this
during/just before sleep. I study part time and during lectures, I
frequently find myself falling momentarily into a deep sleep, even
though seconds before I was wide awake. I usually jerk awake to find
myself falling to the side or my head just about to hit the desk. It is
very embarrassing. It feels like I am passing straight from normal
consciousness straight into a coma without the feeling of tiredness (my
brain just switches off) This is often followed with a feeling of
nausea, probably due to the fact of the motion or embarrassment) Whereas
I (at least hope) that this is a just a normal response to boring
lectures. Is there any advice that anyone can give to help me stay
awake in lectures.
Posted by tracy on 03/06/07 at 04:31 PM
Do you think it could have anything to do with playing video games? Like
your mind was too over stimulated in an unnatural/non-physical way, or
something.
Posted by r on 03/06/07 at 10:38 AM
I get this heaps, also I start hearing music playing not actual songs
but they sound like completely professionally made songs but r jus my
imagination its so cool if only I could record them
Posted by Andy on 03/06/07 at 03:37 AM
I'm glad this actually happens to people other than me. I never get the
radio noise thing, but I normally have a really vivid dream (sometimes
I'm semi-awake when this happens) and then I fall and wake up. It used to
take longer before the fall happened but now it happens sooner and the
jerk is more violent. Normally the floor disappears or something and I
feel a quick, sharp and very unpleasant fall and wake up straight away.
Oddly enough, when I have those dream/hallucinations before it happens,
I sometimes simply realize its a dream and wake up (sometimes it happens
when I'm having a normal dream. it's annoying when I'm having a good
dream- especially on a Monday morning. lol).
Good to know I'm not the only one with this thing.
Posted by Max on 02/11/07 at 12:24 AM
Thrilled to see this actually has a name and an explanation (of sorts)!
I've experienced these regularly for as long as I can remember. And as
others have mentioned, I often have half-dreams about riding a bike. I
fall off, there's a very quick, unpleasant falling sensation, and I'm
bolt upright in bed.
Posted by FP on 02/09/07 at 07:19 PM
This happened to me last night,
scared the #### out of me lol.
I thought it might be related to my drug use...but I guess it's not.
Posted by ooo on 02/06/07 at 08:39 AM
And to the 'radio' noise - I also get it. As most people, in complete
silence I can hear a soft static roaring noise from my ears (like a soft
tinnitus), and I think that the 'radio noise' comes from that the brain
suddenly increases 'gain' of hearing and what you hear is just
'amplified' ear noise.
Posted by john on 02/03/07 at 07:54 AM
when I am falling asleep, sometimes I can hear a dark dull 'explosion'
sound that awakes me, and I can clearly hear it 'fade away' for few
seconds even after I am fully awake!
I was also experiencing sleep paralysis when I was younger, at first it
was quite scary but then I somewhat started to like the feeling, and I
was trying to stay in in it for as long as I could :gulp:
Posted by john on 02/03/07 at 05:03 AM
I have a dream to; Its Like when I'm a sleep for like about 10 seconds or
more I seem to start falling in space but I don't stop I just keep on
falling till I suddenly wake up with sweat and I don't no what to do about it
Posted by Leigh on 02/02/07 at 03:38 AM
Has anyone ever had a sort of jolt that wakes you up often after just
falling asleep? No noise associated with it, just a feeling that
something inside of you jolts you awake. I'm thinking it may be like
anxiety in my sleep, but not sure. It happened for 8 straight hours last
night. I didn't sleep at all!
Posted by upatnight on 02/01/07 at 08:41 PM
I always wondered what caused this. and now I finally know! its happened
to me a couple times and I remember the most recent one was when I was
sleeping on the floor with my dog =] he was laying on my legs and I
jolted straight up and also woke him up haha oops.
lol but usually when this happens I end up falling straight back to
sleep so I don't know.
Posted by Danielle on 01/31/07 at 10:47 PM
happens all the time to me. it's like a prerequisite for lucid dreaming
or something. often accompanied by EHS or 'Exploding Head Syndrome'.
Posted by nick on 01/31/07 at 01:24 PM
I had a very strange dream that included the hypnic jerk. These hunter
people were having some kind of killing spree. These deer were tied up
to some posts and they were shot to death. I ran to a bridge and I
suddenly fell off and woke up.
Posted by Strangevibrations on 01/30/07 at 07:48 PM
Like I said: This topic fascinates me! Please forgive me for the large
volume of writing, but I would go on and on if all things permitted.
PEACE. Hit me up whenever you want.
And just so you're aware, Every DREAM you have pertains only to YOU, YOU
ARE THE 'ENCRYPTIONIST' AND ONLY YOU ARE THE 'DECYPHER' ("One can only
show you the doorway, but you have to walk through it")
Posted by KingKaiser25 on 01/29/07 at 09:48 AM
I experience something similar only I don't feel like I'm falling...It
happens right as I'm on the cusp of falling asleep, sometimes its just my
legs other times its my arms and legs, they jerk about rather
violently. It happens every damn night, drives me nuts because it gives me
heart palpitations as well, then I have to calm down from that and relax
all over again?
I would just like to say: I'm completely down with every single
experience mentioned through out the years on this Forum.
I remember being a child and some of my first Lucid Dreams which I would
call 'Nightmares' at the time because of the fact that I never
experienced such a thing and would wake up in fear and even crying at
times not really knowing or understanding why, only that I remember
there were subtle differences from most waking 'objective' reality - for
example somebody floating in mid air, It was nothing really scary just
things I had never seen in life.
Now-a-days this topic truly fascinates me.
I have 2 to 4 Lucid Dreams a night at least 3 times a week. What does
that have to do with anything, you might ask?
Well, I feel I've experience most sensations everyone has shared on this
website as well as others such as controlling fire/explosions,
shape-shifting, flying/soaring beyond space and breathing underwater.
I've learned to appreciate these experiences
I also believe I've become a Master at inducing these sensations.
I've learned through research and experiment that once you've reached a
state of Lucid Dreaming and you feel as if you're about to
wake up, all you have to do is make yourself feel as if you're falling,
doing a flip or spinning around; you'll then have the sensation as if
A.
one of your arms or your forehead has just hit a table (pretty hard!),
B. your falling and also kind of melting/floating through a surface like
the floor or bed (OR even a membrane of some sort), or
C. "Dying".
(which
are all caused by a "circuit" in the brain which in waking state helps
you keep your balance and which is mostly unconscious- unless you're "Toasted", THEN YOU HAVE NO BALANCE)
Most of the time you'll believe that you have just woken up from the
weirdest dream, but don't you be fooled, my friends...You REMAIN asleep!
And you might then have a frightening sensation that you can't speak,
move or that 'something' is holding you down. That is all caused by a
tiny 'circuit' in the Hippocampus, which kind of bleeds
into your dreaming state and which sole purpose is to keep you, or any dreaming creature for that matter, from acting out their
dreams , so as
not to injure themselves.)
Anyways here's the whole secret! These are all TRICKS our Subconscious
as well as our Unconscious mind plays on our Consciousness. For those of
you who remain afraid- FEAR NOT, BUT FEAR ITSELF. The mind works on so
many levels, that almost all are still unknown to us, and that is what
truly scares us.
Once you realize there's nothing to be afraid about, YOU become Ruler
of your 'DOMAIN.' Truthfully, you can change your very WAY of life!
Almost everything that has been mentioned on this forum (like the
'HYPNAGOGIC' STATE, which would account for all the phenomenon recorded
on this page) are all techniques the MIND has developed for our benefit,
if we learn how to use it properly, that is.
**THE HYPNAGOGIC STATE IS SIMPLY A TRANSITION OF YOUR BRAINWAVES, FROM
WAKING OR CONSCIOUS TO SUBCONSCIOUS TO UNCONSCIOUS TO INFRACONSCIOUS -
The latter would all be considered SLEEPING STATES - (Although we would
also use some of the very same processes when imaging something)**
Finally, all it takes is practice, TRIAL AND ERROR
Very little can go HORRIBLY WRONG - So, there's not much to lose.
All that is really needed is to remain conscious (Easier said then
done, of course). Some can achieve this effortlessly (consider yourself
extremely lucky!) but for most of us much work is needed daily - every
waking second even! (Buddhist Monks study a life time to perfect this
ability.)
Posted by April on 01/27/07 at 09:47 PM
Good to know it's normal. But my tongue! It seems like most times when I
have the twitch, I bite my tongue REALLY HARD! This happens several
times a year.
Posted by Greg on 01/25/07 at 01:12 AM
A lot of weird things happen to me when I'm sleeping or overtired, one time
I stayed up for more then 24 hours on the computer, at one point I seemed
completely zoned out and like dreaming, but I was still working on the
computer, it lasted for bout 20 seconds and then I focused on the coke
can that was beside me and then I came to.Dis this ever happen to anyone
else????
Posted by rykryk on 01/22/07 at 11:35 AM
I get the falling sensation and the jerking sensation and sometimes sum
fuzzy thoughts and stuff but after reading all this other stuff I'm too
scared to sleep! its 3am and I think I might stay up tonight and hug my
mummy in the morning! :|
Posted by stevo on 01/22/07 at 10:22 AM
Sometimes I hear the radio nose too. But to me it sounds more like a
sequence of tv commercials, since there is no music. This usually
happens when my mum is watching tv in another room, then goes to bed, my
brain still thinks the tv is on and hears it. Almost like I am receiving
the tv signals O_O
Posted by Rus on 01/21/07 at 03:14 AM
weird?
I use to have always the same dream before jerks
and they happen often?
I'm riding a bike in a dark forest trail.
then I make a high speed turn (like in a race) and the front wheel
reaches a tree root. every time I have this dream I know the bloody root
is there (like deja vu) an I still hit it. then I fall from the bike. my
head hits the ground, I hear the radio stuff and have a jerk.
Posted by Denis on 01/18/07 at 10:13 AM
I use to have the sensation that my bed was falling through the wall on
my third floor apartment, head first. Several times I would jump out of
bed and pull it away from the wall. Not realizing what had happened,
until the morning after I awoke.
Another time, I felt as though my apartment was a bus without a steering
wheel. The bus was headed down hill at a high rate of speed and in a
desperate attempt to stop it, I fell to the floor of the 'bus' looking
for the brakes. I didn't realize what I was doing until I was burned on
the hand by the wall heater. I jerked awake and climbed back in bed. The
next morning, I had to treat the wound on the back of my hand.
Posted by Patrick on 01/18/07 at 07:59 AM
omg! thanks that many other have these paralysis things! I had it for the
first time yesterday night right after I fell asleep.. soooo scary! I
thought I'd never be able to move again.. couldn't move a finger or
speak. I'm not sure if my eyes was open or not..=/
and I started to cry when I finally could move my finger..
I'm glad I'm not alone..=)
Posted by Marianorway on 01/13/07 at 06:32 PM
once I had been asleep for about 5 minutes when I dreamt that I woke up
& opened my eyes & saw a HUGE spider dangling just inches above my face.
This was so terrifying that I got up & ran down the hall. It was twenty
minutes before I summoned the courage to go back into my bedroom. I
still don't know if it was a dream or it actually happened. The spider
was so big I think it had to have been a dream. Also the way it was
dead-center above my face was too preposterous to be true.
Posted by simms on 01/04/07 at 05:27 AM
I get the 'radio noise' sensation combined with sleep paralysis, however
the noise I hear doesn't sound like a radio, its more like a few
ascending, descending high pitched waves that most certainly are related
to the oscillating fan I sleep near. The jerking awake phenomenon most
definitely occurs more when sleeping somewhere uncomfortable. I thought
I had epilepsy when this would happen to me all the time in high school
while dozing in the library or class.
I must admit that I attributed these phenomena to problems in my own
brain, and I'm so relieved to read all of the posts here. Thank you the
internets and all of your glorious tubes.
Posted by CoolName on 12/27/06 at 02:05 PM
I still get hypnic jerks, and falling dreams, but I had them more as a
kid. The falling dreams were painful, and sometimes I wouldn't wake up
but I would remember them.
Hypnic jerks and the weird radio noise are associated with Out of Body
experiences (OBEs)/Astral projection. it's during the hypnagogic state
that OBEs occur. So is sleep paralysis. If you train yourself not to
wake up when this stuff happens, like the falling feeling or the radio
noise you can have an out of body experience.
Posted by JH on 12/26/06 at 07:38 PM
Brain cannot output or make up anything that it has never learned, hence
long periods of exposure to music or any input while brain's attention
is vigilant on another task, may not be learned perhaps but gets somehow
recorded. It makes sense if older people don't report that
'music-melody-sound vs background noise' thing
while you are between sleep and awake.
The interesting thing is this experience differs from a regular dream,
if you call it a dream.
Same thing goes for the leg jerk. This must be something from sometime
in the Individual's life experience.
In my case, I get the feeling of mis-stepping a stair or two.
Should there exist a percentile that reports no jerking then Carl Sagan
(falling from tree, inherited memory) is awfully wrong. But who knows?
Posted by brayne daemon on 12/24/06 at 08:06 AM
craziness, all of this happens to me too. The more I concentrate before
I sleep the more often the sounds occur.. when I try to listen harder
however, it fades away. I've twitched with white flashes.. flinched,
jerks paralyzed.. you name it.
When I was reading all of this I did feel better, like all of you who
attempted to explain it to someone who doesn't understand and eventually
thinks you're crazy made me feel bad.
I did wonder if this sound problem was a new occurrence as my parents and
those just as old do not seem to have this problem (50 years+ old)
The theory of it possibly being some sort of new radio wave or something
of the nature does make sense. Also out of everyone here, who spends
time on the internet and how much do you use your headphones if at all?
The internet started getting popular in the late 1980's and I am wonder
if it could be the problem. (all we have is theories at this point so
why not ask the questions? :) )
Posted by dz on 12/16/06 at 01:54 AM
wow. I thought all this time I was having out of body experiences. this
explains a lot. I noticed when I'm sleepy or extremely high. I can kind of
force this state to happen. I relax and when I feel the falling feeling,
I
try to remember not to fall asleep. but just relax all my muscles and
breathe as if I'm sleeping. it's kind of like I fool my body into
thinking my mind is asleep. then when I go into this state. it's like my
body has shut off and is not monitoring my conscience or souls
activity. it's like I'm aware my body is elsewhere as I'm falling or
floating. sometimes its more of a side to side or upwards movement
feeling. but the best thing, it is a peaceful eternal feeling which comes
over me mostly. the very first times it happened was very scary. I thought
I was being visited by more evil forces or something. mind warfare or
something. never know nowadays. the last one I had. began to be kind of
scary as I was laying in bed. I felt myself sink downward. I at first
thought to myself to twitch my foot or something to force a wake up. but
I didn't. I fell downwards for what seemed like hours. when I begin to
think that maybe I should wake up. the feeling turns from falling. to a
state of hovering. then when I think. nahhh, I'll keep on going, I
experience the falling sensation again. kind of like a pause button. the
colors where dark black and reddish orange. I have never encountered
anything visual which makes sense. or any objects or beings which seem
unearthly to report. but I think there may be things worth studying in
this. perhaps its just called meditation and already has been invented
for thousands of years and I'm just the last to know. but I figured I
would add my thoughts here. it was a relief to know that I'm not a freak
suffering this alone. I have heard voices of my wife saying my name
before I would fall to sleep. strange the internal thoughts we have go on
in our heads, thinking we are alone in these thoughts, but find out many
have the same thoughts and feelings happen to.
Posted by pug on 12/15/06 at 11:04 AM
Good to know I'm not alone :)
I get the hypnic jerk from time to time, but that I knew was normal. I
didn't think anyone else had the electrical feeling, though.
It works a bit different with me, it's like I'm asleep, then all of a
sudden I wake up and it feels like my whole brain has a strong electric
current flowing thru it, and I also get to hear the 'electricity sound'.
It ends nearly as soon as I consciously perceive this (I'd say less than
one second after I am awaken by this).
Almost like if every neuron in my brain decided to fire at the same
time.
Posted by Hugo on 12/12/06 at 08:19 PM
My semi-frequent hypnagogic jerk definitely feels like I am hitting the
ground after having fallen, although I didn't have the actual perception
of falling per se (if that makes any sense).
I've never had a loud radio-type noise before falling asleep, but I
sometimes wake up to the perception that *I* have made a very loud,
involuntary grunt?? UGH!?? but I am never completely sure that I made any
sound at all, or if I only dreamed that I made a sound. People in the
same room have never confirmed hearing me make an actual sound.
I don't dream of falling entering sleep, but I have sometimes felt like
I am walking backwards down a dark, down-sloping hall that is generally
straight (although not perfectly so) and that successive doors are
opening behind me. Anyone else ever feel this?
At least one lucid dream experience ended with me voluntarily waking
myself up from a nightmare.
And finally, my boyfriend has recently begun talking in his sleep,
sometimes holding conversations with me (as I am still awake). But two
nights ago while still sleeping, he opened up his eyes TWICE! And I'm
not talking about the slow, waking up way. He did it in the 'horror movie,
really sudden dead person coming alive and scaring the hell out of you
by opening his eyes up full-wide instantly staring at you focused' way.
It really freaked me out! Does anyone know of others who may do this?
Posted by Theron on 11/25/06 at 12:08 AM
The above guy: that the article is about falling, not head jerks.
We, at our science labs, believe that we have evolved from gorillas
sleeping in trees. When we were gorillas we did not wish to fall from
our trees, therefore since our brains have not changed that much from
this era, we still have this fear of falling remaining.
From our experiences, the Falling Sensation is highly disturbing and
should be avoided. This can be applied by mind over matter. When you
appear to be falling, try to think 'I AM NOT FALLING.' 9/10 times during
our tests in our science labs, this has worked.
Further notes: We definitely slept in trees. This can be proved by the
falling sensation.
The Falling Sensation makes you jump almost a foot in the air. It often
wakes you up when you're almost asleep. You kind of have like a
mini-dream, like the time Dr. Ross had one about sliding down a muddy
hill. You appear to think you really have fallen, it is quite unnerving
and makes you have a shiver reflex.
Posted by Kirkie and Lou on 11/20/06 at 03:51 PM
I get this sometimes, and it's always accompanied by a dream of walking,
then tripping on say a curb or a bump in the sidewalk.
And I'm betting it's because I walk a lot, and 'Marcus Aurelius' rides
his bike a lot. The body associates the feeling with something you can
relate to for the purposes of dreaming?
I also experience severe hypnagogic hallucinations or hallucinations that
are also experienced during hypnagogia, or while falling asleep.
Anybody else get these?
Posted by Jameson on 11/20/06 at 10:53 AM
some times I close my eyes for a bit then a few seconds later I
experience a quick flash off me about to fall off a cliff or something or
fall down stairs so I quickly jerk to pull my self up to stop falling.
its really weird. this happens just as I am about to nod off
Posted by sarah on 11/19/06 at 05:35 PM
I've never gotten the falling feeling as far as I remember, but I get
the head jerks often when I'm not comfortable falling asleep. Also, the
head noises that some people hear before they fall asleep are said to
sound like a short burst of radio. Mine are more like a generic boom
with no sound type at all (if that makes sense) yet it continues to be
the loudest noise I have ever heard/experienced. It really freaks the
crap out of me when it happens and my heart races and I cant fall asleep
afterwards!
Posted by david m. on 11/18/06 at 10:55 PM
Forgetting how to breath is part of 'sleep paralysis'. Sometimes you
can't move or breath for a little while and a lot of people freak out
when it happens (thankfully I never got it). it's not really anything to
worry about.
Posted by Max on 11/16/06 at 02:29 AM
When you close your eyes you can often just see random colors which may
appear to be a face. I think they're just your eyes responding to
fluctuating light that's getting through your eyelids (if you turn a
light on while doing this, the colors change). Sometimes you can
manipulate it if you try hard enough. Eventually you can to some extent
manipulate whole scenes. I can do it too. Unless your eyes are open when
you see stuff, you're fine.
Posted by Bob on 11/16/06 at 02:25 AM
Here's a strange phenomena for you. I have had this all my life. Close
your eyes real hard and see all kinds of weird images (mostly faces) form
under your eyelids? This is usually accompanied with flashes of light or
one light in the background that I try to will myself closer to but it
keeps getting further away. If I concentrate on a particular kind of
face (like an animal or witch or etc, it will sometimes form itself into
something similar. Anyone have anything like this? I've tried to find
some name for it (besides being mentally crazy) but with no luck
Long as I can remember I could do this and still do. Anyone else know
what this is?
Posted by wolf on 11/09/06 at 02:31 PM
I have experienced the hypnic jerks often....kinda strange. Another
weird thing is that my dog jerks A LOT as he's sleeping, sometimes like
he's chasing an animal...I wake him up cause it scares me a little.
Also....sometimes when I'm sleeping on my side, the ear on top feels
like someone is blowing into it, maybe I haven't been cleaning them good.
But by far the scariest thing is when I had a dream where I'm holding my
breath, like I'm under water,...and when I woke up...I forgot how to
breath...it took me like 10 seconds to remember again. Has any of this
ever happened to you?
Posted by John_SHAZAM on 11/08/06 at 03:45 PM
OMG! So it was not dangerous !!! PSCHEW!!!!
When I'm falling asleep, if lying uncomfortable, I get this tingling
feeling in my legs, a moment after, it feels like my body cramps, and I
cannot move for some seconds, this is mixed with this "motor"-like sound
playing loud in my head.
It feels really odd when it happens, and it can happen 3 or for times in
a row, even after changing position in bed. Really uncomfortable!
Have a nice sleep! don't worry bout the attacks! :)
Posted by kribba on 11/07/06 at 07:36 AM
Nice to know you're not the only one with these things. I used to think
I actually had something wrong with me.
If I think about stuff before I fall asleep, occasionally it turns into
hallucination based on whatever I was thinking about. It slips further
and further away from anything plausible in the real world and becomes
weirder and weirder. Then after one or two minutes I'm suddenly in a
place in no way part of the dream and fall down, or I jump to something
pushes me, either way it propels me a lot further than it should. Then
I wake up kicking thin air. It used to happen when I was younger (I'm
15) but it's started happening again now that I get to bed later.
Funnily enough some are now based on old memories and dreams. Anyone
else get the hallucination thing first?
Posted by Bob on 10/31/06 at 04:51 AM
I've also had this very quick falling sensation several times. It
happens when I'm suddenly woken up by a 1 sec sense of falling down and
then I land on my bed and sort of jolt because of it. Its very weird but
I find it cool.
Posted by Kyle on 10/29/06 at 05:26 PM
I have experienced all of these things that are being mentioned.
The hypnotic jerks I experience are sometimes violent and I kicked my
wall one time and woke someone up in the process.
With the radio noise, it sounds like there is someone playing music from
far away but it is a little stat icy and mumbly. It usually happened when
everything was very quiet and kept me up at night and I had no idea what
it was until now....
Also, every time I wake up I tend to swear at my clock ("you've got to
be f--in kidding me!") thinking it is the wrong time or I slept in way
too long even if it is somewhat early.
Posted by Alex on 10/27/06 at 10:54 PM
I've been having a lot of hypnic jerks lately, but I kind of enjoy them
- they tend to happen right before I fully fall asleep. It kind of feels
to me like my body letting go of my conscious state. I jolt awake for
just a second, but I immediately have a sensation of "okay, thank god,
I'll be asleep any second now", and I almost always am.
The discussion about the auditory bursts is interesting - I don't have
them often, but I had one once. Sounded like a needle ripping across a
record. Freaked me out at the time. Glad to finally find out that's
normal, in case it happens again?
The sleep paralysis I'm just going to hope to avoid. Yikes.
Posted by Karen on 10/07/06 at 06:34 AM
it happens to me more often, and it's been really violent. when I was
little (I'm 14) I'd be falling off a cliff or something. now it wakes me
up and I can't fall asleep.
Posted by daniel on 10/04/06 at 01:43 PM
Yes I always have these dreams or moments but they happen quite often.
and I'm doing all kinds of different activities. like running and the
sidewalk falls or climbing a mountain and my hand slips or last night I
had a dream that I was working in our student council snack bar and my
feet disappeared from right under me. yeah they're all just really
strange. but I love learning about dreams it's so AWESOME
Posted by alyssa on 10/01/06 at 12:22 PM
hey, has anyone here ever been awake, trying to get to sleep, and seen
flash bulbs go off in the blackness of your eyelid? it occasionally
happens with my eyes open too.
I also get the falling sensation, I'm 15, and I think it's been going on
for about two years, but not very frequently. really creeps me out
though :-S
thanks
Nerdboy
Posted by nerdboy on 09/30/06 at 09:17 AM
I often have recurring strange auditory hallucinations every night while
sleeping. Usually in the early hours of the morning. Most often it's
knocking at my bedroom door. One night it woke me up and I noticed that
the clock read 3:20. When I got up, I looked up Revelation 3:20. Really
cool, but also kinda creepy.
Posted by yunk on 09/28/06 at 12:21 PM
I have had a teeth chattering problem for 3 almost 3 years now and it
wont stop. it happens at night when I'm about to enter deep sleep. I try
to continue to sleep but I jerk my body and wake up because if I don't my
teeth will be worn out by morning. I mean, I chatter my teeth so hard its
a miracle I still have them. please HELP me!!!!!!
Posted by Richard on 09/24/06 at 01:01 PM
This happens to me maybe once every two weeks, usually when I'm about to
fall asleep. it's usually a sensation of sliding off my bed or spinning
really fast and being unable to stop, but one time I was about to get
whacked in the head with a baseball bat RIGHT before I woke up. When I
do wake up, I make that "hypinc jerk" movement and since I usually fall
asleep before my sister and we share the same room, she says it's
entertaining watching me do that :angry: Anyway, ONE time, it happened
right before I woke up, and it felt like something was holding my whole
body down. I could see my surroundings, but I couldn't move, scream, and
could barely breath. When I snapped out of the hallucination, I was so
freaked out!
Posted by Anonymous on 09/23/06 at 12:00 PM
I have these spasms almost every night. Usually 3 to a dozen times
before I fall asleep. I wake up all the time because of them...or, never
really fall asleep right away because of them. I also wake up partially
almost every night 1~5 times. I think something is wrong with me. I hate
it. It feels like an electrical shock and I feel like crud all day
because of it!!!!!!!!!! I even get them in the middle of the day if I
ever just stop moving, or relax. ARG!
Posted by oregon on 09/21/06 at 03:58 PM
this thing is dangerous, I once felt it so intense that my mouth
suddenly closed as that jolt went through my body , then my teeth cut a
little piece of my tongue, really dangerous?
Posted by omg on 09/21/06 at 07:02 AM
it's funny, ever since I can remember, I've always been afraid of
someone touching (or even worse, grabbing) my feet, so I've always
surrounded my feet with as much blanket as I can, even if it's hot. I
don't even know why I did this, because I never experienced something
like this...until one day when I was like 10 or 13.
I was in my parent's room, and my mom had left the room. I felt
something tug on my right foot. I turned around expecting my mom, but I
could hear her downstairs singing. I think I passed out :bug: , cuz I
don't remember anything else.
I also suffer from nervous breakdowns or panic attacks at night. I get
so scared that I HAVE to open my eyes. Up until now, I've never heard of
other people actually seeing or hearing things...so thanks guys :ahhh:
When I pass out, go into a seizure, wake up in a hospital and go into
cardiac-arrest, to wake up only to realize it's 2050 and I've been in a
coma for all those years, I'll know who to blame :lol:
Posted by Carlos on 09/20/06 at 07:54 PM
I have had this in a very severe case before when my body completely
jerked out of bed and wouldn't stop vibrating and bouncing around, I was
terrified to go back to bed and was almost certain it was a seizure or
something else.
Posted by me on 09/17/06 at 01:37 PM
I constantly have a form of this, though the form is less often a
falling sensation and more of a burst of noise, along the lines of a
person/group of people talking for about a second, then I wake up. Does
anyone else have the 'Talking People' jerk?
Posted by Anonymous on 09/16/06 at 11:08 PM
hi. I've had these since I was small and living with my grandma.
the dream went like this: I was walking on a really tall building with
her and suddenly I was lifted and I floated downwards slowly, along the
building's wall, to the ground. there was a lake there and I woke up
with a jolt just before reaching the water.
this kept occurring, but after a while I couldn't remember dreaming it,
too. I just woke up with the jolt.
hope this helps,
Alice
Posted by Alice on 09/14/06 at 02:20 PM
Sometimes I experience this strange feeling that feels like an electric
shock going through my brain and my entire body when I am half awake and
half at sleep it sounds really creepy and it usually happens when I am
sleeping on my back. And what really freaks me out the most is that,
sometimes I have my eyes open and I try to scream or get up but I feel
like am being held down by some sort of force. is this witchcraft or
something? [No, that's sleep paralysis.]
Posted by D on 09/12/06 at 08:40 AM
I can vouch that going 20+ hours without sleep can increase this
activity. I have been working third shift for about 3 months and find
myself staying up on my days off for the rest of the following day (say
24+ hrs). My falling is more dark in that I don't know what I'm falling
from but that it's happening and then BAM! I'm awake and freaked. I find
that when I'm laying down now to sleep I hear music/voices something
weird?? Just started over the last few weeks actually so I don't know
what it is. My mind is nuts I presume. Good article and comments. Look
forward to reading more.
One more thing. About a week or so ago I fell asleep in the chair
slouched down with my head leaning on the back of the chair. The hard
part is to describe what woke me; Most unusual VERY loud pop/buzz/static
(all at once) and when I opened my eyes (I was staring straight up of
course) I couldn't move and couldn't breathe (at least it seemed that
way for 2-3 seconds) and I can't forget it.
Posted by Josh on 09/07/06 at 03:48 AM
I 'hear' this loud sound like a starter's pistol just when I fall
asleep. I wake up but it doesn't take long to fall back asleep.
What really bothers me is the 'Help! I'm frozen!' kind. I get this
'dream' about me waking up and being unable to move a muscle, even
unable to talk. The other things I can move are my eyes, and the weird
part is I can see the correct time in the clock! Anybody getting this
kind?
Andy
Posted by Andy on 09/05/06 at 06:23 AM
cool, thanks a lot. I hate it when this happens and I could never figure
out why it happened. good to know I'm not crazy (like some people
suggested), it's just natural.
Posted by Kevin on 09/03/06 at 11:00 PM
I get the jerk but usually I feel like I can't breathe and my body wakes
me up gasping for air.
Sometimes I feel like I'm holding my breath for minutes at a time in my
subconscious mind.
As for the sleep paralysis, it happen to me once and I will never forget
it?
I woke up and I was shaking, it felt like a seizure. I couldn't move,
and I was screaming in my mind. I was just lying there and I wasn't
breathing. Just like someone had described, it felt exactly like I was
dying and passing on to heaven. It has troubled me to this day, but I
feel better now after reading comments.
Posted by E on 09/03/06 at 07:42 PM
omg yes I experienced the falling feeling few times. It was kind of
creepy have to say that.
But I also experienced something even more frightening. I was about one
year ago when I was 17 and I had a very stressful week in school, and
didn't get much sleep.
This was I think on Friday when I finally went to bed and started to
close my eyes I heard really clearly that somebody said my name. I
opened
my eyes but no one was there.
Since I was so tired I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. After
2/3 seconds I felt like somebody touched my neck, I opened my eyes
again. It felt very disturbing.
Again I closed my eyes since I was super tired.
after 2/3 seconds I heard a very loud sound of a screeching car outside
and again I opened my eyes and closed them trying to go to sleep.
And then the fourth time after about the same time say 2 seconds I felt
so strongly that my bed was shaking. I seriously thought it was a really
strong earthquake.
These experiences lasted for few seconds but they were so strong and
felt so real that I could probably say it was the creepiest feelings
ever. And the fact that they came one after another really creeped me
out.
Posted by nikki on 09/03/06 at 01:15 AM
This happens to me all the time- I feel like I'm falling off the edge of
the bed and jerk backwards into the wall.
Then I can't sleep.
And it hurts. D:
Posted by Yumino on 09/01/06 at 06:20 PM
I've heard the noise thing too, but only recently and am so glad I am not
alone. To me it is an alien sound like something an MRI radiation machine
makes which I've only heard once, but must have made an impression on me.
I was quote scared for days, but after reading the posts feel somewhat
better. Thanks.
Posted by bill on 09/01/06 at 10:40 AM
For me the falling sensation is either falling off a curb or step, or
more often the jerk is related to napping during the day, when I am able
to have lucid dreams.
Whilst having the lucid dreams, my body often reacts to the events
occurring in the dream.
Just today I was drifting off as a passenger in a car with my friend
driving in traffic. I had these uncontrollable jerks about 10 times in
response to my lucid dream that lasted about an hour. Odd because during
this time I was completely conscious of my state, was able to control my
body, and my dream, whilst maintaining the dreaming state, yet still
having no control of the jerks.
Posted by Daniel on 08/29/06 at 03:50 PM
:smirk: I am so glad to read these comments. I have since childhood had
the falling sensation and the radio sound. But recently I have heard my
name whispered to me in my sleep. I have been on line looking up
schizophrenia, thinking I was going insane. thank you for your comments.
Posted by Suzanne on 08/26/06 at 09:20 PM
Does anyone else experience a sort of 'delirious' feeling, is the best
way to describe it. If you're lying in bed, all of a sudden things make
sense in a weird sort of way? like I thought that a circle, divided in
half and then one half divided again, with the letter d, was all that
lay between me and sleep. Or I'll think 'why can't I sleep', and my
answer will be "the pizza came early" (or something along those lines),
and it makes perfect sense.
kind of vague, but do any of you know what I'm talking about??
Yes!
Whenever I'm just waking or drifting back off into sleep...random things
make sense...it feels like there's something I have to do, some plan to
complete (something completely random like your circle D thing). Then when I'm properly awake I realize it makes no sense what-so-ever.
The falling thing I get often. Sometimes (I think it used to happen more when I was younger) it feels
like the bed is tilting upwards and I'm falling off.
The rest of you with your orchestras, static and sleep paralysis are
just nuts ; ) Seriously though some of that (especially the paralysis) sounds real
creepy, especially for the first time.
Now I'm too scared to sleep : (
Posted by Stevo on 08/26/06 at 06:00 AM
I have read your posts, and I experience the jerking thing, but also the
noises. I read the exploding head syndrome article, and it appears that
I, and many of you have this syndrome. What I find interesting is that
the phenomena has only been reported since 1988. What does this mean?
What started occurring around 1988 to cause this? I doubt that some
evolutionary trait just 'kicked in'. I assume something environmental,
like a particular type of radio wave, was put into wide use at about
that time. May be worth investigating.
Posted by Frank on 08/25/06 at 10:55 PM
Sometimes when I sleep I know that I'm awake but can't move any muscles
and at the same time I feel like I'm rotating upwards!!! Used to be very
scared of it, thought I died and was going to heaven, but now I'm used
to it. Recently I was sleeping in this state and got that radio static
thing and heard a voice telling me something but I forgot what it said!
The radio static I was hearing felt like it was getting very close to me
until it was behind my back like something was near me on bed! Nice to
know other people get the same feelings so it's probably just the mind
waking up and playing tricks.
Posted by KEVIN on 08/15/06 at 08:42 AM
I also get the sounds, radio sounds, whispering, people yelling (either
a ARRRGGGG, shrill scream, WAKE UP or my name), banging/slamming doors
or windows and none of this is external as my husband has sometimes been
awake when I experienced them.
Posted by Coriander on 08/11/06 at 06:41 PM
You can't imagine how much better I feel just knowing others experience
these things too. I'm not sure why some people hear loud noises. I've
heard a harpsichord before. Also, I know when I'm 'falling' and it's
just like fainting, but I cant seem to wake myself up no matter how hard
I try.
Posted by Natalie on 08/10/06 at 11:03 AM
I get the radio thing I find it more like every sound is 10 times
louder, I normally get this when I am sick or have a fever, and on rainy
days.
I also get this strange thing where I dream I'm holding this object and
it is like hard but soft, its really hard to explain.
Posted by Punk on 08/07/06 at 03:40 AM
This is something that I find more commonly happens if I fall asleep in
a place that I am not supposed to like a chair or on the lavatory. It
seems to related to the fact that I cannot relax when I am starting to
fall asleep.
This is something that I noticed seems to be more common during sleep
deprivation, especially if I need to try and stay awake longer still.
There is feeling very abruptly of falling; in the same way that I would
feel if I accidentally skidded on a skate-board that was inadvertently
left on a stair-case; this is rapidly followed by a jerk that feels like
an electric shock sensation.
This experience takes approximately half a second to take place.
It gives you one hell of a shock when it happens.
Posted by Victor Creed on 08/05/06 at 10:06 AM
I've had the falling sensation many a time lol but another thing I get is
when I can hear very faint music coming from a place I can never find. I
always used 2 hear 'bridge over troubled water' coming from somewhere so
I would press my ear against all the walls to see if it was coming from the
next room/house but I have never found it. it must have been in my head!
this only happens when I'm in total silence by the way! has anyone else
experienced this?
Posted by Kristian on 08/02/06 at 04:33 PM
Does anyone else see a flashbulb-quick visual while jerking awake? I see
a sudden network of crisscrossing lines (like a net), white and slightly
glowing, over a grainy backdrop of gray. Very strange.
Posted by TWTP on 07/31/06 at 10:08 PM
I get these often. The worst one I ever had was when I was drifting off
on the sofa. My body jerked so hard that I fell from the sofa and landed
a good 2 feet away.
I am curious if this is related to the perceived inability to wake up. I
have a dream where I am waking up, but I cant. I begin to panic because
I know that my BODY is awake but that my mind isn't. Weird.
Posted by Shirley on 07/30/06 at 11:16 AM
I had that too! xD It woke me up.
Posted by Sam on 07/29/06 at 08:51 PM
I have had these problems from the age of 11 years old to now, I'm 30
years old.. It all started when I was dreaming of falling out of a swing
set. I would always fall with my back heading first and it's always in
slow motion. I do get the weightless feeling and all, just like I am
really falling, but as soon as I get to the bottom or ground my body
slows down almost to a stop and I land as if I'm landing on a bed of
feathers I literally bounce until I come to a complete stop. Now more
recently I fall asleep and while I'm falling asleep all sound around me
becomes very intense. For example the ceiling fan will sound as if it is
right above my head and I can see the bedroom and my surroundings but I
can't get up. Sometimes I see figures flying around the room sometimes
taunting me and I have to really struggle to wake up. The more it
happens the more aware I am of what is taunting me. I have read all of
the previous testimonies but I still wonder how come all that I have
mentioned this to only two others have had this happen to them, my dad
and my brother, I have found no one else!
Posted by Orenthian Turner on 07/27/06 at 09:12 AM
I get this a lot!!! it happens all the time!!
do you know why it is that when some people sleep their soul leaves
their body?..
post information on site please.
Posted by sleephead on 07/26/06 at 01:26 AM
I will be in a really deep sleep in the middle of the night and then I
will hear a voice calling my name to wake me up (3 times very loud). I
thought it was my husband and I ask him what he wants but it wasn't.
This freaks me out. Does anyone else experience this and do they know
what causes it?
Posted by Nicole on 07/11/06 at 07:39 PM
Wow, whoever said we may have exploding head syndrome� your a real prat
lol.
I don't usually post on these boards, but I came across it, seeing as I
also kick the wall before I fall into a sleep, it never really bothered
me, or the falling sensation because its happened from a young age, all
my life every night.
The radio noise only recently started happening however, rarely I can
hear music, and when I try listen more and more, it fades away.
Sometimes I hear my dad SHOUTING my name, god knows why, he's not even
dead, so I don't think he's contacting me lol.
But the most frequent noise, is usually a bell smashing, or a motorcycle
revving, as if its right next to my ear, I hear other noises depending on
the day, but the said are the most usual ones.
So I seen someone say it may be "exploding head syndrome" well, I
almost crapped myself, because I knew I had these exact same symptoms
(the noise thing).
I thought I was about to die and everything, yes, I'm quite gullible.
so I looked it up, and thankfully, its not medically dangerous, and is
quite common, mainly in us weird people on this site. (Small joke).
Posted by Danius on 07/09/06 at 08:34 PM
I get the falling sensation from time to time, but I got it a lot when I
fell asleep in school. we had tiny wooden desks, and I would jolt awake
with my legs stiff out in front to stop the fall, and I wouldn't be
falling, and everyone would always turn around and look at me weird.
has anyone ever done this? your alarm clock goes off in the morning, but
it NEVER wakes me up. the noise always ties in with my dream, such as
the radio would tie in somehow, or the beeping would be an alarm in my
dream such as a fire alarm.
its very difficult for me to wake up on my own
another thing I've done is very odd sleep walking. one time I opened all
the doors, turned on all the lights, opened the cupboards, set off the
alarm system, and turned on the tv. has anyone else done something crazy
like this?
Posted by nick on 07/07/06 at 07:40 PM
Last night it happened to me again. I woke up laying on my stairs. The
lights were real dimmed. I went to turn on the lights and they didn't
come on. That's when I knew I might be in that dream again. I went to my
room and the lights didn't come on either. So, I went to lay on the bed
and then I heard someone whispering my name. I tried to ignore it then
I heard it again. Then I looked up and saw a gremlin-like thing standing
at the door of my room. It was coming towards me slowly. Since these
dreams happened to me often, I wasn't even scared. It got close to me
and I swung at it and hit it on its head. It went right back to the
door. Then everything got blurry and I woke up with a deep breath laying
on my bed. Anyone had a similar story?
Posted by quette on 06/30/06 at 12:01 PM
wowowwee!
Posted by Captain Barbell on 06/29/06 at 05:11 AM
I get this sometimes, but without the falling. At least I don't remember
the falling part. I'll be just drifting off to sleep and suddenly sit up
in bed in a state of utter surprise. Weird.
Posted by Eric on 06/25/06 at 03:35 PM
I'm 24 and first had the weird static noise a few months ago. It
terrified me - I thought it was a ghost! Glad to see I'm not alone.
The falling or tripping sensation and waking with a jolt is quite fun
though!!
Posted by Alex on 06/23/06 at 05:55 PM
I'm 16 and I get this a lot, lol. I love it. it's a bit weird when it
happens.
Posted by smartz on 06/23/06 at 03:22 PM
Hello all! Well ... I visited this site sometime in the recent past, and
I remember reading a post from someone who said that they heard a voice
just before waking. Well, I had forgotten that that too happened to me
in the past. It had not happened for a long time. But about two weeks
ago, my husband woke me. I didn't just wake, but also I heard a voice
that sounded like my neighbor calling my mum's name. So to the person
who said that happened to them, no, you are most certainly not alone. It
sort of freaked me out, and I felt a bit on the dazed side. Is there
anything that can stop these things from happening?
Posted by Krissy on 06/22/06 at 08:13 AM
I get some crazy stuff when I sleep. I can remember having a hypnic jerk
on more than one occasion, but I can only remember 2 times really
clearly: I was riding on a skateboard, and I fell and my entire body
jerked. The other time, the hypnic jerk saved my life: I sleep on the
top bunk of a bunk bed, and I was completely asleep. I rolled all the
way to the end and as soon as I noticed a loss a balance, I woke up and
my entire body jerked again. I say it saved my life because, had I
fallen, my head would have hit my nightstand which has rather sharp
edges. Another unusual experience I've had was when I woke up, went back
to sleep, and a dream started almost immediately. The odd thing was,
though, that when the dream started, a certain part of my head hurt for
a split-second, almost as if the dreaming part of the brain was
starting. it's pretty crazy.
Posted by Mike E. on 06/20/06 at 01:46 AM
I thought I was the only one going crazy. I have experienced a lot of the
things that has been discussed and I have been told by family Doctor
that most of problems come from lack of sleep?! I have been sitting in
front of the computer and all of a sudden I will jump out of my skin all
of a sudden its normal. I was told that was also related to lack of
sleep. I also just recently started hearing music from a radio that is
not on. Now I haven't talked to the Doc about that but I am sure he will
blame it on lack of good sleep. I have had sleep problems since I was 13
years old and I am now 47. I just cannot sleep or cannot fall asleep.
Posted by rICK on 06/18/06 at 10:15 AM
Whenever I experience the jerk, its usually something that's about to run
into me, like being on a railroad track when a train is approaching and
not being able to move, then, SHLABLAM, I jerk my leg or something, then
I wake up. Also, that music thing, sometimes the outside world can
influence your senses in your dream, like having to use the restroom;
You might use the restroom in your dream. Or, you might hear your mother
telling you something in your dream, that she is in reality telling you.
But it could just be that dreaming of music.
Posted by cuulcars on 06/12/06 at 12:18 PM
I get something similar whilst awake and standing: I'll feel myself
falling at which point I jerk and wake up. I occasionally fall or bump
into things. it happens anytime of day or night.
Posted by gegsy on 06/08/06 at 03:53 PM
This isn't about the jerking, but hopefully someone knows about this or
can point me in the right direction cause it's driving me nuts.
I woke up again this morning after hearing my name called in the middle
of a dream. A strange voice, like it wants me to wake up. All I heard
was my name and then I woke right up, BAM! Wide awake. No one home,
nothing else made me wake. It was kinda like the feeling of waking from
a bad dream. I have only had this happen a few times. Very rarely. Just
having a normal dream (as normal as they can be), then hearing my name
and BAM! I was expecting something to happen when I awoke, like a
burglar rushing me or something.
Hopefully someone can explain this. Like I said very rarely and always
the same. Normal dream....hear someone call me....and BAM! Wake up like
I was having a nightmare. it's a strange call too. Thanks.
Posted by Daniel on 06/08/06 at 12:27 PM
Interesting. I learned to control the 'hypnic jerk' once. All I would do
was, while I was falling asleep, imagine the bed hanging on the wall. I
got so in to it, I felt like I was on the wall. The next thing I knew,
my whole body jerked. I felt as though I was falling. Once, I also felt
like I was falling through the bed ... not from the ceiling but sinking
into the bed at a rapid speed. Now that I did not like. And I had this
weird feeling once, like I could not move anything but I was awake. At
least that's how it felt. Could anyone please tell me what caused that
last thing I mentioned?
Posted by London on 06/07/06 at 10:47 AM
Wow, I knew other people have had the falling
sensation, but I previously thought I was all
alone in the whole radio thing.
I am 14 years of age, if it helps, but there is something else that
occasionally happens to me. Please bear with me, this is really hard to
explain. Sometimes, when I am in this strange
state between sleep and being awake, I get
this strange electrical sensation shortly after
the burst of radio noises. Then, while the
sensation continues for about 5 seconds, the sound
changes to a motorcycle-like sound. the sensation
then changes to this odd feeling that is comparable to the strange
feeling when you press
down on the area where your ribs meet, but it
is about 100 times more powerful, and it is all over your body. After
this happens, I hear this sound that I can only describe as flopping
sheet metal. Do you have any idea what I am talking about? The first
time it happened I was totally freaked out. But after that, I have
learned to enjoy it quite a bit.
Does ANYONE out there know why this happens?
Thanks!
Posted by Devon Alexandra on 06/04/06 at 07:08 PM
when it happens to me, its really scary! its hard to explain, but it
feels like I'm falling backwards off the side of my bed, that everything
is vibrating, including myself, I feel heavy, that I'm throwing up and
like I cant breathe. I can also hear a tape deck playing backwards and
(this is gonna sound really weird), but I can hear piglet from winnie
the pooh. he's not really saying anything but he's just kinda going 'ahhhhh'. its very weird. it hasn't happened for a long time. I think the
reason why it was happening was because I was very fatigued at the time
and had a lot of sleep anxiety.
Posted by shayna on 05/31/06 at 09:13 PM
I am very familiar with sleep paralysis and "repeated-waking"-type
hypnagogic hallucinations. I am seldom afraid anymore, more likely I
feel annoyed or curious about it.
anyways, has anyone ever felt a shuddering jaw during sleep paralysis, I
always get it. Anyone? Does anyone know if it is really quivering or just the subjective
feeling that one's jaw is shivering?
Posted by gluino on 05/29/06 at 12:52 PM
I've had this for quite a while now when I go to bed at night I'm just
getting comfy and dosing off to sleep when I suddenly jump and get the
most weird feeling of falling off a curb or a mass building and sit bolt
up right in my bed. I have been told this could be due to anemia which I
have suffered many of times. Any one else heard of this what an awful
feeling? I hope there is someone out there that can sympathize with me?
Posted by lorraine roberts on 05/24/06 at 04:04 AM
I get the Jolt thing...it sounds like bzzt and feels like I am being
struck by lightning? {
Posted by Nicol on 05/20/06 at 10:58 PM
I've also read that muscular twitches can be the result of specific
vitamin and especially mineral shortages. Any competent physician can
perform a blood test to reveal such shortages and then recommend the
proper over-the-counter dietary supplement needed.
Posted by Old Time Radio on 05/04/06 at 02:28 PM
Joanne, I'm certainly no physician but this sounds to me like pent-up
electro-chemical energies, left over from the day's activities, relaxing
and 'letting go' in preparation for sleep.
If this concerns you by all means bring it up to a qualified physician,
but muscular twitches of this kind are very common.
Posted by Old Time Radio on 05/04/06 at 02:16 PM
For those who to anything supernatural there is an explanation that the
falling sensation occurs when the spirit actually leaves the body during
sleep. Many believe that during sleep the spirit leaves the body to
visit loved ones in this world and the next and sometimes it must leave
the body to go to a place of healing, say if you are depressed or have
suffered a tragic loss recently. The falling sensation comes from your
body realizing your spirit isn't present and it thinks it is then dead
and your spirit has to jump back into you quickly. That is the theory
I've heard. The noise might also be you are hearing the voices or sounds
on the 'other side' during that moment when the spirit hasn't quite left
the body and the conscious mind and spirit overlap and you are hearing
consciously what the spirit hears. Just an idea from the 'other side' of
thought on the matter.
Posted by Leviticus on 05/04/06 at 12:27 PM
Hi Everyone
Recently I have started experiencing myoclonic jerks usually at night as
soon as I am in bed. It seems that about five minutes after I close my
eyes (I am still fully awake) I experience full body jerks as well as
jerks in a leg or an arm. This has been happening every night for 4
months. I am really worried about it. Can anyone tell me if they have
similar experiences
Posted by joanne on 05/04/06 at 10:02 AM
Thought has occurred to me:
Maybe this is the reason we came out of the trees early in our
Homosapian evolution? Meaning:
Maybe the sapians that jerked in the trees fell from the trees and some
but not all died! the ones that lived couldn't go back into the trees
for fear of falling again. Now we/they had to learn to live out of the
trees.
How about that theory?
Posted by Missing Link on 05/04/06 at 09:40 AM
Yes, Dan, I've also experienced this, although very rarely, and it
leaves me with the sickening and headachy sensation of staggering around
like a zombie the following day, as though I'd had absolutely no sleep
at all, although I'd obviously slept 6, 8, even 10 or more hours.
For a genuinely restful night's sleep I need to wake up two or three
times during that sleep period, like brief intermissions between feature
films.
Posted by Old Time radio on 04/28/06 at 11:44 PM
Yes, astraldude, I'm familiar with astral projection, although I've
never had any - conscious - success with the various techniquest. I
first read about out-of-the-body experiences in FATE magazine during my
high school days, nearly 50 years ago.
Posted by Old Time radio on 04/28/06 at 11:30 PM
anyone have one of those things where you turn over and then turn back
and it feels like its morning? Happened at my grandmas once, I turned to
the wall and then it felt like I turned back right away and it was
morning. I fell right asleep the moment I hit the pillow.
Posted by Dan on 04/28/06 at 05:33 PM
Check out astral projection. It might open some doors for you :)
Posted by astraldude on 04/28/06 at 10:17 AM
I thought I'd posted this following information before but it must have
been to another list.
I haven't experienced the 'falling sensation' for many years but endured
it quite regularly as a child.
Physicians have given me an explanation for this totally than the one
posited in the main article above.
According to them, what I experienced was 'nothing more than a healthy
and quite normal blood pressure drop in preparation for sleep, or deeper
sleep. The body, or more correctly body- mass actually DOES 'fall' as
the skin relaxes - about 1/30th of an inch or so. But the mind
interprets that as more like a three-foot drop!'
Posted by Old Time radio on 04/28/06 at 05:06 AM
I beat the hell out of this girl I was sleeping with when I got back
from Iraq. Now I feel better knowing how hypnic jerks work.
Posted by Jethro on 04/27/06 at 02:27 PM
This may sound weird but I can actually induce the falling feeling my
self I can't really explain how to do it but there you go.
Also I have sometimes had the radio, the jerk
and the paralysis but the jerk is getting more and more frequent :)
Posted by Peter on 04/27/06 at 02:35 AM
I used to have this when I was a child but found it completely
disappeared when I turned 15/16 and started exercising and toning up. I
haven't experienced it since. Perhaps increasing your muscle tone can
have a preventative effect on this phenomenon. I'd be interested to see
if this works for anyone else.
Posted by Dave on 04/23/06 at 08:24 PM
Hello,
I've been thinking a lot about this quick falling sensation, which I
experienced quite a few times when I was young. I think a possible
explanation is this: As the memory of all our 3 billion year evolution
is stored in our DNA, I believe the falling sensation is a bodily
remembrance of the times we lived in trees and the danger of falling was
very real, especially when sleeping up there on a branch or in a fork.
It is an instinctive reaction to a danger which doesn't really exist
anymore, for since then we've been sleeping on the ground or on low
beds.
I would like to know what others think about this explanation.
greetings, Ayo
Posted by ayo on 04/22/06 at 07:18 AM
The first time I experienced sleep paralysis, I recognized it as a form
of lucid dreaming and thoroughly enjoyed it for about thirty seconds,
then I wanted to wake up - after the initial fear of being unable to
move passed, I mentally 'took a breath' and self-hypnotized telling
myself to wake up - as soon as I had cleared my mind of everything but
waking up, my eyes opened and the paralysis was over - if you get it,
it's something worth trying, but you have to be able to really focus
yourself down to one thing, at the exclusion of everything else.
I have only experienced sleep paralysis on my back and I find it fairly
difficult to induce lucid dreaming while on my stomach, though not
impossible.
To be honest, I find it to be a lot of fun - but if I didn't know what
was going on, I would probably freak out. Then again, I am constantly
being amazed by the power of that bundle of neurons between our ears =)
Posted by Ron on 04/16/06 at 03:45 PM
I also experience a rotating sensation sometimes before falling asleep.
It's almost as if you feel the world rotating around you. I can almost
make it happen in that half sleep state.
Oh my god! This happens to me also! I always just chalked it up to being
dizzy or something but the sensation is exactly how you explained it.
Creepy. Sometimes I even feel like my bed is swaying, like I'm on a boat
or something.
Posted by Lisa on 04/15/06 at 03:46 AM
When I get these dreams I feel like I'm actually being pushed into the
bed and then I jerk awake and I'm just laying there haha its so weird or
there has been this one where I was falling then it would stop and then
I would fall again like I was jumping on a trampoline
Posted by Kate on 04/11/06 at 12:59 PM
Looks like some of you guys have
exploding head syndrome.
Posted by tom on 04/08/06 at 11:13 AM
I get a strange noise as I'm falling asleep too :D - like hundreds of
people talking at the same time.. but more tongue noises than throat
noises - like a tv that's on in another room. sounds human but you cant
make out the words.. it's kinda scary :(.
Posted by tom on 04/06/06 at 09:08 PM
Oh, I forgot one important thing: Sleep paralysis ALWAYS happens to me
when I fall asleep on my back! So I try to make it a habit to fall
asleep on side or on my stomach. On the t.v. program the science
explanation was that this all occurred in the brain stem...like a switch
that is between on and off. You half awake and half dreaming. Another
thing that is frightening, is when you have covers over or partially
over head and on your back and you are not getting enough air? and you
know something is wrong and want to move arms and hands to move the
covers but can't for at least a few seconds or so, then you wake and
move them away. Now I know why I was told when I was younger not to
sleep with covers over my head...but hell with the dreams I had, could
you blame me??
Posted by kf on 04/06/06 at 09:00 PM
First had 'sleep paralysis' back in 1994 at age 23. I woke up...or
thought I did, looking into the morning sunshine and realizing what a
beautiful day this would be....until I couldn't roll out of bed! I sat
there wondering what was happening. I ask myself if I was dreaming...but
it seamed like I was so awake! So I just closed my eyes...(don't know if
they were open or not) and went back to sleep. This happened again. but
third time, as soon as I awoke, there was no doubt in my mind that I
could move before moving. This happened to me about 3 more times in the
last 12yrs., and all at night. WARNING: At night, they are worse. Feels
like there is someone there in room....Evil. Best thing to do, is just
close eyes and relax. Just forget about it. I know this can be hard, but
it works. I felt better after seeing on History Channel or Science
Channel..????? that this has been documented in paintings back in early
centuries. They show gargoyles or demons sitting on the sleeper's chest.
Some people get the sensation during sleep paralysis, that there is
something holding them down. Anyway, I think all the dreams, sleep
paralysis, and etc.. are all normal and that some people have over-acted
minds and when the body is physically tired, close to exhaustion, the
people with over-acted minds, don't wanna sleep and their minds are
still active. Glad I read about the radio static. I had an episode when
I was in first grade. I just remember my mother was watching t.v. and it
seemed like I couldn't sleep and moved to bottom of bed and could see in
hallway and hear t.v. The furnace was on, and I just remember looking at
heater vent in my room next to bed, and seeing and hearing static. I
remember the static was also in mild colors too. I just
thought...weird...and went back to my pillow and fell asleep. One more
thing, too funny. About the age of 15 or so, I came in house from a long
bike ride during summer. I just flopped on living room carpet and my mom
was down in basement doing laundry. I could hear washer and drying...and
then....with my face down to floor but with eyes close....I saw like a
8mm video of a water-mill just turning around...then the next clip was
of a horse running. It was like those days back in school watching the
science films on the movie projector. I laughed when this happen, picked
my head up and put my face down again...and once again...same two clips
that lasted together about 20sec.
Posted by kf on 04/06/06 at 08:41 PM
I am so glad to know I am not CRAZY, I hear the radio noise.
Posted by Not crazy on 04/06/06 at 07:38 PM
If an idiot sitting next to me in the bus falls asleep and a leans on me
I encourage him to have a hypnic jerk (with my elbow).
Posted by Atul on 04/06/06 at 02:45 AM
Get it every night, doesn't have any lasting effects, but it's always
annoying.
Posted by Suburban Wolf on 04/05/06 at 04:39 PM
I affectionately call this phenomenon 'Jimmy Legs.' I experience Jimmy
Legs quite frequently. I have been informed that I pretty consistently
chatter my teeth in sets of threes in my sleep, also. Even more odd is
that the pattern of the chatter is always two quick chops, slight pause,
then one big bone-crushing chop. This is not teeth grinding. Is there
any explanation for this too?
Posted by K on 04/05/06 at 12:27 PM
it feels like I've tripped and am falling and I yank myself up from the
bed! waagh!
huh thank god other people get that feeling too. I was beginning to feel
odd ;)
Posted by Coja on 04/04/06 at 05:57 PM
I get that twice every month. I think you get it when you're really
comfortable & tired and you sleep. I always think that I'm falling off
stairs. I heard from my friend that if you don't wake up from falling,
and you hit that bottom of nowhere, you DIE. lol.
Posted by Jenny on 04/04/06 at 03:44 PM
I got nothing; same thing happens, except I'm skateboarding and fall
backwards. I link it to stress and metaphorical representations of
failure.
Posted by Shaze on 04/04/06 at 02:06 PM
I've experienced the twitching thing the last few years that I can
recall. However, I never thought it to be weird. I easily associated it
with waking dreams - that period in which you're not totally asleep or
awake. I actually enjoy it a bit, something of a mystery and sometimes
it's fun to be just somewhere in your mind then jolted back into
reality!
I've also experienced sleep paralysis. Very scary, again something along
the lines of a waking dream. I like to describe rather as 'dreaming with
your eyes open', and you're brain is processing visual (and possible
other) information yet you are powerless to do anything about it, not
even able to scream because you feel choked.
All very interesting indeed. That I can recall I've never heard the
noise thing.
Posted by jerome horwitz on 04/04/06 at 01:23 PM
This happens to me all of the time as well. I hate it, it scares the
crap out of me every time.
Posted by I was there you know on 04/04/06 at 01:17 PM
Wow! I'm 15 and I get that A LOT! Sometimes while trying to fall asleep
I
can hear music, even though it is completely silent in my house. Its
kind of like a radio in my brain, with commercials too! strange!
Posted by seventoes on 04/04/06 at 11:36 AM
I normally feel like I am running then without knowing my foot lands in
a hole.
Posted by Brian on 04/04/06 at 11:23 AM
Actually, I misspoke there. Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic don't refer to
sound and imagery, they relate to the state of sleep you're in, either
before or after dreaming.
Posted by Badtz on 04/04/06 at 11:17 AM
I experience this a lot, along with hypnagogic and hypnopompic
hallucinations. Some people who have posted in this thread sound like
they might be having the same thing. Hypnagogic hallucinations are when
you hear noises as you are falling asleep. I usually hear people's
voices, or crashing sounds, but I've also heard the radio sound.
Hypnopompic hallucinations are visual. I sometimes wake up and see
spiders, or cloud-like shapes floating above me, that quickly fade away.
I used to think I was crazy until I read about it on the net, it's
actually normal for a lot of people.
Posted by Badtz on 04/04/06 at 11:12 AM
First time I experienced Sleep Paralysis I thought someone drugged me.
frightening experience.
Posted by andres on 04/04/06 at 10:37 AM
Maybe because of this, I was a natural at lucid dreaming. I used to
love to do that. But the thing is, being conscious while you dream means
you don't wake up as rested as you would have.
Am I thrilled to see this line!!! Finally there's someone out there who
will understand what am talking about! I used to dream, and all the
while be conscious of the fact that its just a dream .. what's more, I
never wanted to get out of it coz I wanted to know what was gonna happen
in the end of the 'movie' that's going on in my head!!!.. heheheheheehhehehhe?
and falling thingy happens all the time as well, though a little less
often than the dream thing. its always falling from the stairs though,
after missing a step.
weird!!
Posted by reshlobo on 04/04/06 at 10:07 AM
I just recently noticed in myself the increase in the 'jerk' when I'm
really tired...it's neat to read some of the theories about why it
happens.
Occasionally I experience something similar to a 'jerk' only it's a flash
of light (my eyes are shut) and maybe a loud noise (which I'm pretty
sure is just in my head, because my wife never stirs when it happens to
me).
I've also experienced the noise thing. Sometimes it's just noise, other
times I can experience what feels like I'm composing music in my head
(amazing symphonies that disappear in a puff of smoke as soon as I wake
up).
The worst is the sleep paralysis, especially when it's combined with the
noise...you can't move and you have these horrible sounds going on in
your head and you're just stuck. Happened just last month to me, and
while it's kind of neat for the first few moments, it gets old trying to
fall asleep and you're just immobile, awake, and head filled with
noise...I'm just short of anticipating opening my eyes to little green
people looking back at me.
Posted by Andrew on 04/04/06 at 09:19 AM
Actually it is my understanding that as the body falls asleep the
parasympathetic nervous system kicks in (it is a 'mirror' of your awake
nervous system, with separate nerves and all, and runs along side your
waking nerves. It can maintain body function while you sleep).
When the body switches over nervous systems there is an initial jolt of
Potassium ions sent down the nerve cells which 'wakes them up'. This
happens basically instantaneously and causes the muscles, especially
skeletal muscles, to 'jerk' or flex.
Whether or not this causes some people to think they are falling is
something I've never heard of.
Posted by Dr. JB on 04/04/06 at 08:37 AM
Always thought this happened when your heart skipped a beat.. that's
what I was told as a child!
Posted by Toby on 04/04/06 at 07:43 AM
This twitching thing happens to me quite often. My wife thinks I am a
freak, LOL......
Posted by Mike N. on 04/04/06 at 06:59 AM
I get the twitch without the feeling of falling usually a just after
falling asleep. I've also experienced it after sleeping for a while,
maybe 30 minutes maybe more but then it scares the #### out of me
because I'm still in some kind of dream state I can hallucinate for a
second or two in the dark with my eyes open. I sat up and supposedly
yelled some profanity from the surprise a few times.
I also experience a rotating sensation sometimes before falling asleep.
it's almost as if you feel the world rotating around you. I can almost
make it happen in that half sleep state.
As far as sound, just as I am falling asleep and dreams start coming on
if I consciously take notice of someone speaking I can then keep it up
and almost literally hear anyone speaking that I have heard speaking
before.
Posted by Mike on 04/04/06 at 06:56 AM
My interpretation of the jerk is that I had stepped off of a curb
without being prepared for the drop.
For those of you that experience the 'radio noise', try controlling it.
I can sometimes play a full orchestra inside my head, composing as I go
:)
Posted by Mike on 04/04/06 at 05:34 AM
I have experienced this quick loud burst of static noise as well, I'm
just laying there almost asleep then all of a sudden its like 'PSHHHHHH'
real quick and it usually makes me jump like a normal loud sound would,
it happens probably once a month, and sometimes it does it a few times
in 1 night, very interesting.
Posted by Mike on 04/04/06 at 03:53 AM
Hah 1337. I though I was broken or something. I often have these jerking
effects, its as if I was climbing down some stairs, and suddenly I miss a
step. very odd.
Posted by Namelis1 on 04/04/06 at 02:24 AM
Good to know it happens to lot of people. I had an incident in a train,
the kids next to me shocked and laughed at me and big embarrassment.
Still my wife complaints & my kid also behave similar.
Posted by pettapop on 04/04/06 at 01:43 AM
Oh I am so glad I read this. What a relief. I knew that the
sleep/jerk/falling sensation was common, but that noise! Usually it is
someone shouting, often my name but sometimes a random word. I thought
it was madness. Also the music, when I am concentrating deeply (as
earlier post said) in a near hypnotic state, like reading, or composing
text, background noise like appliance hum becomes musical in my head, a
melody, and I have thought the radio or television is on in another
room. When I 'come to' from my concentration, and focus on the music, it
returns to the actual, ordinary, background noise. Once, when sleep
deprived, I was laying awake and I heard music and actually got up and
searched the house for the TV or radio that had been left on. When I
realized it was in my head I got really scared - thought I was truly mad.
Then I went back to bed and heard the music in bits for hours. It
changed styles and melodies, but again, when I'd concentrate on the
sound, it disappeared. You know the expression 'seeing something out of
the corner of your eye'?this was like 'hearing out of the corner of your
ear' if that makes any sense. I agree with the hypnotist above. It must
happen when the unconscious takes over, and only when my conscious mind
comes back 'online' do I realize what it is.
Then again, I could just be crazy.
Posted by harriet on 04/04/06 at 01:27 AM
[...]burst of radio noise, but sometimes it's like pressing play and
rewind at the same time on a tape deck..
Anyone else experienced the sound thing?
Yes and I have no idea what it is. With me, it seems almost like
electricity that arcs across my brain (It sounds like a radio burst or
play/rewind but it usually moves from one side to the other).
It is extremely weird and the first time it happened I was actually a
lil frightened. At this point, I'm kind of used to it. what's also
strange is that the falling thing I've had all my life - but this
electric/radio burst sounding thing is fairly recent.
Posted by heynow on 04/03/06 at 11:58 PM
I've had this before, almost always while dreaming I was walking down a
flight of stairs - only once was it actually falling off a building, and
once it was accompanied by a matrix-like dream. Heh.
Posted by dwu on 04/03/06 at 10:36 PM
DANG! Of course, the Matrix! Why didn't I think of that???? LOL
Posted by soror_mystica on 04/03/06 at 09:59 PM
I think this proves we are in a matrix and the twitching means that a
machine is sucking some juice out of us
Posted by aj on 04/03/06 at 09:55 PM
Yeah I usually catch air and become alert in the air, its really weird.
I don't think I've had sleep paralysis but I've had it where I know I'm
dreaming and want to wake up but I cant.
Posted by jw on 04/03/06 at 09:47 PM
"I don't really get the falling sensation that often. However, I do have
the hypnagogic myoclonic twitch quite often. Also people have talked of
a sudden burst of noise, does anyone else's sound like a semi tractor
trailer truck horn?"
Ya I get the same exact thing too, its exactly like a truck horn. Once
in a while I get bright flashes that jolt me awake, It reminds me of
lighting.
Posted by John on 04/03/06 at 09:45 PM
I've experienced this too many many times, especially when undergoing
hypnosis. it's usually referred to as 'finger signals', but in this
case, it may be other parts of your body twitching, not your fingers. It
is an unconscious feedback mechanism. As your higher brain functions
begin to shut down during sleep, the lower brain and unconscious mind
temporarily take over complete control of your body. This is necessary
for your body to automatically regulate itself during sleep. The
twitching is just a sign that your unconscious mind is beginning to take
over. This is also why you may hear voices in your head, like a radio.
When your conscious mind switches off, you may be able to hear your
unconscious thoughts more clearly. Most people aren't used to this so
they perceive it as coming from somewhere else, instead from where it's
really coming from the unconscious. Also someone mentioned that they
don't trust the time on the clock. This is merely a sign that your mind
is going into unconventional time-spaces, so outside time doesn't seem
correct by comparison. All of these phenomenon are known to occur in
hypnosis and also in the state just before sleep. I've studied hypnosis
so much that everything that was said here did not even surprise me at
all.
Posted by Sublime on 04/03/06 at 09:32 PM
I always am dreaming about tennis or falling off a cliff and get jolted
awake. During the tennis dreams I get hit by a ball, and when I wakeup
it actually kinda hurts for a sec.
Posted by chad on 04/03/06 at 09:32 PM
very interesting, I notice this stuff but it's hard to remember
Posted by patto on 04/03/06 at 09:28 PM
I'm also 15, and this happens to me about once a month, but instead of
the 'radio noise' thing you guys talk about, I get what feels like and
electric jolt going through my body, and then (as the other person
stated above), it feels as thought the clock is 'lying' to me about the
time, and I have o go downstairs and look at the clock I 'trust'. I
don't
know, its real weird. If you guys can tell me some more about this,
please e-mail me :D
Posted by Rothman on 04/03/06 at 08:57 PM
When I have that twitch/falling feeling my dream is that I am usually
tripping in a ditch when I'm walking.
Posted by Will on 04/03/06 at 08:56 PM
The radio thing?
I get that ALL THE TIME. Usually when I'm in that state between
wakefulness and sleep. it's very pronounced too. Sometimes I can hear
the voice is that of my mother's, who is speaking in Hungarian (I speak
Hungarian too, but I'm not as fluent as the words that come). Sometimes
I'm able to make out various words.
My belief is that our guard is down and we are more open to 'hearing'
other people's thoughts.
Not any different to me from turning on a radio: before, the sound
wasn't there. Then suddenly it is. But the signal is ALWAYS there. Just
need a receiver to intercept it.
Posted by soror_mystica on 04/03/06 at 08:49 PM
Oh Thank God I'm not alone in this.
All these years, I thought I was a freak when this happened, I didn't
dare reveal this to my friends or family in fear of being labeled.
But now I can rest easy knowing that I'm not along in this big ol world
of 6 billion people?
Whewwww!!
Posted by Robert on 04/03/06 at 08:39 PM
When I was a young kid (less than 8) and I had to go to bed, I would
sometimes lay awake with what seemed like a combination of radio static
and garbled voices blasting in my head for extended periods of time. My
guess now is that my brain was just too excited to calm down, but it had
no stimulus to focus on.
I've had the falling sensation intermittently my whole life. It startles
me, but then I just shrug it off & go back to sleep.
I used to have sleep paralysis pretty regularly. Sometimes it would last
and last and last. Sometimes I had to go back to sleep in order to wake
up!
Maybe because of this, I was a natural at lucid dreaming. I used to love
to do that. But the thing is, being conscious while you dream means you
don't wake up as rested as you would have. Kinda strange, I love
exploring what our weird brains can do.
Posted by Mordecai on 04/03/06 at 08:38 PM
This happened to me pretty often when I was young, but not so often
anymore. If it ever does happen to me, I'm usually half-sleeping or
daydreaming. I also experience the noise thing, only it sounds sort of
like someone mumbling, a bit like the voices in most Pink Floyd songs
that you can barely understand.
Posted by Chris on 04/03/06 at 08:13 PM
I saw this discussed once on a website (can't remember where) and is
linked somehow to man not being on the top of the food chain and living
on the tops of trees to avoid predators. The falling sensation is said
to be ingrained into our subconscious as an effect of the fear of falling
from the treetop while sleeping. Sounds like a plausible theory to me,
what do you guys think?
Posted by wekoweko on 04/03/06 at 08:08 PM
This has happened to me also sometimes at home but mostly in school when
I am just tired and am still trying to stay awake I fall asleep then
suddenly jerk and wake back up. I don't really get the falling sensation
though.
Posted by Ken on 04/03/06 at 07:59 PM
I often hear my name being called when this happens, even when there is
nobody within my hearing range.
Posted by DavidE on 04/03/06 at 07:51 PM
no its not sleep paralysis. sleep paralysis is A LOT more intense and can
last for up to a minute...believe me...I know. one of the scariest
moments of my life.
Posted by Brian118 on 04/03/06 at 07:47 PM
I was a psychology major in college and I still keep up with studies.
From what I have read it is the *opposite* that causes this.
I have read that when most animals fall asleep their bodies go into a
state of paralysis (this is so while dreaming, of say hunting, their
body does not jerk and make noise - thus giving away their location to
potential predators in the wild). This also explains why your brain
sometimes will wake up and you cannot move your body while you are
still asleep.
I think this also explains the 'falling sensation' in that if you more
gradually awaken your muscles relax (from paralysis) and the relaxing
sensation can be similar to falling (at which point fear sets in and
your body tightens and you awaken with a start).
It is indeed interesting and I look forward to hearing more research on
the subject.
Posted by Dr MindHacker on 04/03/06 at 07:35 PM
Not harmful to the body? What about when this Hypnic jerk bounces my
unclenched fist off of the wall?
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