Why Your Body Sometimes Jerks As You Fall Asleep

A closer look at hypnic jerks

Images by the author (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ahh… sleep. How nice. You turn off the lights. You close your weary eyes. You sigh. You relax. Your breathing slows down. Your mind begins to wander off, fading into the nightly oblivion.

Then…

You stumble, trip, fall. Your body jolts. Your leg kicks. Your heart pounds. Huh? What…