Comments on: BBC Future column: Hypnic Jerks

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:06:17 +0000

Somewhat on topic…when I’m under moderate stress, I occasionally have a hypnogogic hallucination. It’s very weird. It usually happens in the wee morning hours where I hear the doorbell ring. It’s extremely vivid and is the same exact sound every time. It’s very disturbing because for a long time I thought someone was ringing my doorbell at 4:00 a.m. and running…repeatedly. I even called the police once, and they told me to set up a camera on a tripod to see who was doing it. Turns out, it was a hypnogogic hallucination. It now happens maybe once every 5 years.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 20:16:23 +0000

To Jon and Victoria – according to the book The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, it is as Tom said in his comment. Page 31: “Almost everyone seems to get [myoclonic jerks], and they are usually paired with an internal narrative of tumbling down stairs or slipping on ice. Oliver Sacks is particularly impressed with these jerks and he believes they showcase the brain’s amazing high-speed improvisational abilities. The accompanying mini-dreams seem to start before the jerk, but in reality, says Sacks, they must be stimulated by an original ‘preconscious perception’ of the incoming twitch, and the whole mini-story is built on the fly in less than a second.” By the way, this book (authored by Jeff Warren) is an amazing read. I highly recommend it.

By: mpeppers24

mpeppers24 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:03:05 +0000

I’d like to know if people who experience hypnic jerks are more likely to sleep walk and/or sleep talk. Are there any studies on this? Do you have any thoughts about it?

By: mpeppers24

mpeppers24 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:02:14 +0000

I’d like to know if people who experience hypnic jerks are more likely to talk in their sleep and/or sleep walk. Have there been any studies on this? Do you have any thoughts about it?

By: Sol G

Sol G — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:05:47 +0000

Narcoleptic here. Finally, something I have knowledge on at an intimate level, but of course, I wish I didn’t.

With narcolepsy these can happen while mostly awake and going about one’s day. The meds that promote daytime wakefulness- Xyrem at night, stimulants by day- help reduce their incidence. Before we knew I had narcolepsy, I spent years trying to have my daytime “twitches” figured out.

They ruled out everything they could think of. When the narcolepsy was diagnosed, we all did a bit of a double-take, and reviewed the history of the twitches and spasms. Sure enough, they followed with the worst of the sleepiness. Solved! But no one would ever have thought to look for it, not even me.

So it’s possible for these to happen by day, and to spend years ruling out MS and everything else, only to find out that they are ultimately, “just one of those things,” that can go with a too-permeable sleep-wake barrier.

By: Another Jon

Another Jon — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 01:21:27 +0000

I have experienced these hypnic jerks for many years now (much to the dismay of the other half), and I also suffer from what has been coined “exploding head syndrome”. Personally i’ve noticed the hypnic jerks are more prevalent when I am stressed or anxious, whereas the EHS only occurs when I am sleep deprived. Sunday gone I was actually suffering from both which was quite a pain, as it also increased my already elevated anxiety, due to lack of sleep. To me the hypnic jerk wakes me and I can’t recall interaction between it and my dream. I always thought it was a random physiological response possibly having something to do with the central nervous system misfiring. I wonder if there is any correlation between hypnic jerks and restless legs syndrome, above what you would normally expect from symptoms of sleep deprivation, the latter being an awake disorder…

By: Pia Marjukka Laasonen

Pia Marjukka Laasonen — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:42:53 +0000

Dear
iSociety,In dreams we can fly, space arounding me.Horror,vampireshouse is near.I skreem and woke up.My blood is running blueh.I was happy real wod,realize understudied.Yeats and so on.Yes i notice my imaginations.Deine Societyt(thank God)Freuline Friend.

By: Pia Marjukka Laasonen

Pia Marjukka Laasonen — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:42:11 +0000

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:12:09 +0000

Recently I jumped out of bed from horizontal sleep to vertical standing. From what i remember i was under the impression that insects were crawling all over my walls. The thoughts going through my head was ‘what the fuck ahh’, but take into mind i’m short sighted and can’t see me arse from my elbow without my glasses, there was no chance i could have seen anything. I put it down to exam stress and realising nothing was there tried to get back to sleep.

By: Pia Marjukka Laasonen

Pia Marjukka Laasonen — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 01:18:10 +0000

Dear Columnist,people are more simular and samekimd,people have I too that nice Term Hypnotic Jerk,I mostly nightmares.Deine Scandinavian lookinclass.