Do you ever get a sensation like you're about to fall asleep and then you suddenly jerk
yourself awake again? Perhaps with a racing heart and feeling as though you're in fight
or flight mode?
Maybe you don't experience a physical jerk but find that as soon as you're about to drift
off your mind wakes you up? Either way, these sensations aren't uncommon — and that's
what I'm going to be talking about in today's video!
Hi, I'm Martin Reed. If you have insomnia, I offer sleep coaching programs that will
give you all the skills and support you need to enjoy better sleep for the rest of your
life. You can learn more at insomniacoach.com.
I often hear from people who tell me that they find it hard to fall asleep because every
time they feel they are about to fall asleep their body (or their mind) suddenly wakes
them back up. This could be a sudden sensation of mental alertness, or it could be a physical
jerk that brings you right back to full wakefulness. I've also heard this described as feeling
jerked awake with a shot of adrenaline every time you start to fall asleep.
These jerks can occur frequently, or they might occur randomly — they are sometimes
associated with stress, an irregular sleep schedule, and some medications.
The physical jerks aren't uncommon and are often referred to as hypnic jerks, sleep starts,
or sleep twitches. They typically occur as we progress from wakefulness to the first
stage of light sleep and are sometimes associated with a sensation that you are falling.
Of course, in real life, the only falling actually taking place is falling asleep! So,
with this in mind, it can be helpful to recognize these jerks or jolts as the onset of sleep
rather than a sign that something is wrong.
Here's what a member of the Insomnia Coach forum said about hypnic jerks and what helped
them improve their sleep:
"I realized that these “hypnic jerks” happen when one is about to fall asleep. Since
then, when I’ve had trouble falling asleep, I welcome those little twitches that tell
me…….ahhh, sleep is setting in."
So, reframing these jerks as something positive (the onset of sleep) rather than something
you need to fight against can be helpful.
These physical jerks or sudden mental arousal can also be a symptom of hyperarousal — in
other words, the more you pay attention and perhaps self-monitor for sleep and these jerks,
the more frequently they might happen or the more intense they might feel.
It can be helpful to think of it this way — if you are monitoring for sleep, your
brain needs to stay active to determine when sleep happens. As soon as it recognizes the
onset of sleep, it wakes you up to declare success! Of course, this isn't really helpful!
If you are sleeping in an unusual or uncomfortable environment you might be more likely to experience
these jerks or twitches, too.
They can also be a heightened response to the normal bodily changes associated with
sleep. For example, as we fall asleep our muscles start to relax and our breathing slows.
If we are more alert or monitoring for this, we can be more sensitive to these changes.
So, what can you do to get rid of these jerks? Well, I think the best thing to do is not
worry about them — recognizing that they are not unusual and that they don't necessarily
indicate a problem, and identifying them as a symptom that sleep is happening can be really
helpful.
Sometimes, changing your sleep position might be helpful — so, if you tend to find you
get those jerks when you lie on your back on your side, starting the night in a different
position might be helpful.
It can also be helpful to observe a consistent sleep schedule, particularly when it comes
to getting out of bed by the same time every day — since this allows sleep drive to build
during the day and that can make it easier to fall asleep at night.
Taking time to unwind before bed and making sure you only go to bed when you feel sleepy
enough for sleep might help, too.
If you experience a jerk or jolt and this leads to a lot of time in bed feeling worried,
anxious, or frustrated, this can be a good cue to get out of bed and distract your mind
with a relaxing and somewhat enjoyable activity. When you feel calm and relaxed again, you
can try returning to bed and seeing what happened.
If you find that your challenge is more to do with feeling alert as soon as you get into
bed (rather than suddenly feeling alert as you start to fall asleep) this could be a
symptom of conditioned arousal — through repeated exposure to difficult nights and
unpleasant wakefulness in bed, you have learned to associated your bed with unpleasant wakefulness.
The good news is that, just as you learned to associate your bed with unpleasant wakefulness,
you can "re-learn" to associate your bed with pleasant wakefulness and sleep by making sure
that whenever being in bed doesn't feel good, you remove yourself from the bed until you
feel calm and relaxed, then return to bed and repeat the process if required.
So, ultimately, these hypnic jerks can be a challenge — but they are simply a sign
that sleep is happening! The less you can worry about them, the less you monitor for
them, and the more comfortable you can be with their occasional presence, the less likely
they may be to occur.
So I hope you found this short video helpful. If you did, please click the like button and
subscribe to the channel, and click the notification bell so you don't miss any future videos.
I do try to share some new sleep snippet videos every week.
If you have any questions, comments, feedback, or suggestions for a future video, please
leave a comment below or you can email me directly. My email address is hello@insomniacoach.com.
Thanks for watching, and — as always — I'd like to leave you with this important reminder.
You can sleep!