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Waking up with a jerk

Hey, Matt:

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Why is it that when I'm just beginning to drift off at night and fall asleep, suddenly, BOOM, in my dream I trip or fall or get hit by a bus, causing my body to respond by jerking spastically, which wakes me up?

-- Dreamer, Encinitas

Veeeery interesting. Come into the Alice Institute for Dream Analysis and Advanced Spackle Research and curl up on the couch while we poke through your psyche. That just-falling-asleep, surfing-the-alpha-waves time is an odd blend of sleep and waking. Dream content and bodily sensations still interact to some extent. This is unlike dreams experienced in deep sleep, when motor neurons fire but are normally blocked from activating our muscles (so we won't dream about driving to Cleveland, and then actually get out of bed and do it). Speculation is that either an external stimulus or intense dream image can wake us more easily in the first stages of sleep, and in response we suddenly reestablish full brain-body connection with that characteristic jerk.

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Hey, Matt:

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Why is it that when I'm just beginning to drift off at night and fall asleep, suddenly, BOOM, in my dream I trip or fall or get hit by a bus, causing my body to respond by jerking spastically, which wakes me up?

-- Dreamer, Encinitas

Veeeery interesting. Come into the Alice Institute for Dream Analysis and Advanced Spackle Research and curl up on the couch while we poke through your psyche. That just-falling-asleep, surfing-the-alpha-waves time is an odd blend of sleep and waking. Dream content and bodily sensations still interact to some extent. This is unlike dreams experienced in deep sleep, when motor neurons fire but are normally blocked from activating our muscles (so we won't dream about driving to Cleveland, and then actually get out of bed and do it). Speculation is that either an external stimulus or intense dream image can wake us more easily in the first stages of sleep, and in response we suddenly reestablish full brain-body connection with that characteristic jerk.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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