5 out of 7 nights a week, while falling asleep, my whole body jerks violently. I seem to be half asleep, I can still hear the television if it has been left on and I am aware I am falling asleep, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a picture of myself falling appears in my mind. A second after this vision begins, I have this powerful spasm that shakes my entire body. This is more than a simple twitch or something. My legs go up in the air, and because of the material my bed is made of, it makes quite a bit of noise when they come back down. The whole spasm lasts about 1.5 seconds and after it I am fully awake.
I don’t really have a problem with this. As a matter of fact, I kind of like it. But I was wondering if there was anyway this was, say, somehow connected to WILD? Can I somehow use this vision of myself falling to initiate a lucid dream?
well, according to Professor Wikipedia, this sensation is called a “hypnic jerk”, and it’s not yet totally known why it happens. one major school of thought thinks it is a part of the muscular system shutting down, and so the jerk is a transition. the other is that since the muscles become so relaxed, the brain becomes confused and associates this with a weightlessness or falling through air, and the jerk is the body trying to grab on to something.
either way, it is a part of falling asleep, and there’s no real way to turn it into a lucid dream. the jerk wakes the body up too much, and the imagery alone as far as i know can’t be controlled in such a manner as to aid in a lucid dream. the only way i can think of is if you’re already progressed far enough and sleep paralysis has set in, and therefore there’s no twitch. however this is usually impossible since SP is the body asleep and the “hypnic jerk” happens prior to falling asleep. it’s like wanting to chew food before you’ve put it in your mouth.
so unfortunately, hypnic jerks can only really hinder you. if they only happen once when trying to fall asleep (i.e. you jerk awake, then go to sleep soon after), they will be a nuisance but you can try WILD after they’ve occurred, assuming you don’t fall asleep soon after and are unable to concentrate.
but i know what you mean about liking them. haha. it’s a crazy sensation. for me it usually feels like i’m slammed into bed without moving, if that makes sense.
EDIT: i just read a comment somewhere online that said maybe, and it wasn’t confirmed, one could anticipate it and somehow control it. meaning, you see the vision of yourself falling, know what’s going on, and take control and that stops the jerk. but i suppose you have to find out for yourself.
It usually happens when I am very tired. It’s 1:30 AM and I went to a concert earlier so I’m going to assume it will happen tonight. I’ll try this out.
yep that’s one of the causes too, like Professor Wikipedia said. 
unusual sleep schedules can cause them to be more frequent as well.