Falling sensation

[mattm025]

I was reading everything on the home page and I fell upon the part about the falling sensation(no pun intended). At that time of reading about it, I remembered the numerous times it has happened to me and awoke me because of it. Does this count as a lucid dream, an out of body experience, or both?

[MissEvil]

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 recent 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 occurance 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.

This is the medical/scientific reasoning. There are also those who believe it’s because you are unawarely astral projecting/having an OBE and are then suddenly slammed back down into your physical body, giving you that ‘jerk’.

I have had this on so many occasions. It is always accompanied by me falling of a cliff, stairs or dying.

[Basilus_West]

Hi mattm025, welcome to the forum!

It’s neither a LD nor an OBE. Thanks to MissEvil, we have here a very interesting explanation. I’ve always supposed it was due to the sudden switching off of the sensory inputs which was misinterpreted by the brain.

Anyway, it was possible not to be awaken by this, you could perhaps enter a LD. Yet most possibly, if you were unaware of it and didn’t jerk, you just would fall asleep unconsciously.

[mattm025]

Thanks MissEvil and Basilus for the reply.

In response to your reply Basilus, how could a LD occur when this happens? When the falling sensation happens, it’ll usually wake me up at that same exact moment and I don’t think I’m dreaming at the time of the sensation. That or I don’t remember the dream .

Edit: Oh yeah, in the above quote it says the body usually jerks which causes this falling sensation but I do remember one time when I was napping in the living room and my brother was right there beside me. I had that falling sensation and awoke. I then asked my brother if he had seen me jerk or make any movement and he said I hadn’t moved. Any explaination for this?

[don20853]

I think that what Basilus ment is that if you could train yourself to remain asleep but become lucid when this happens, then it could be a way to start an LD. Kind of like a DILD but with the jerk as the Dreamsign. I guess it would depend on how much your body and your mind could learn to react differently to the jerk.
As to your other question, I have had this often, as in the text when I am very busy and don’t get enough sleep. Most of the time I wake up, but the “jerk” can be so slight that no one else sees it. I don’t rember ever having this and not waking up so I guess it would not help me to becom lucid, but that is just me.
don

[MissEvil]

Oh yeah, in the above quote it says the body usually jerks which causes this falling sensation but I do remember one time when I was napping in the living room and my brother was right there beside me. I had that falling sensation and awoke. I then asked my brother if he had seen me jerk or make any movement and he said I hadn’t moved. Any explaination for this?

As mentioned above, Im pretty sure the jerks can be minor/hardly evident. There have been times where i feel as if i’ve totally literally jumped, but its only been a minor jerk.

I guess you feel it more as you are in such a relaxed state that anything sudden would feel extravagant.

[Shinoda]

A friend of mine has that everynight… she just twitches an falls asleep not long after… she said she just got used to it… but it might not be what your describing Mattm, because I did see it a couple of times…

[Basilus_West]

I think that what Basilus ment is that if you could train yourself to remain asleep but become lucid when this happens, then it could be a way to start an LD. Kind of like a DILD but with the jerk as the Dreamsign. I guess it would depend on how much your body and your mind could learn to react differently to the jerk.

Yes, but I think now it’s rather hard indeed. I’ve had sometimes sudden falling sensations when practising WILD. I’m not a WILD expert but I’ve the feeling that if I weren’t so much surprised I could have entered a LD. But you need to be still aware when it’s happen. If you have already lost consciousness, you’ll just have a jerk and wake up.

[r0b0m00]

I believe this is called a myoclonic jerk. I have experianced it once or twice.