Why your body jerks before you fall asleep Today in “Things you’ve always wondered but never thought to ask at the right time”. I have kicked the sheets clean off my bed before. I’ve smacked my wife in the head and I’ve sent my dog flying. All because of involuntary jerks at the brink of slumber. Scientists think it’s the result of the final moments of a battle between your sleep and waking cycles. Deep in the core of our brain, a region called the reticular activating system controls our feeling “awake”. Elsewhere, near the point where the nerves from the eyes cross inside your head, the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus senses the cycles of light and dark and shifts our brain to a deep sleep mode. As your waking motor system teeters on the brink of control at that point just before the VLPO takes over, WHAM, KICK whatthehell?! Now you know. Sleep tight. (More info at BBC - Future)
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Why your body jerks before you fall asleep

Today in “Things you’ve always wondered but never thought to ask at the right time”.

I have kicked the sheets clean off my bed before. I’ve smacked my wife in the head and I’ve sent my dog flying. All because of involuntary jerks at the brink of slumber. Scientists think it’s the result of the final moments of a battle between your sleep and waking cycles.

Deep in the core of our brain, a region called the reticular activating system controls our feeling “awake”. Elsewhere, near the point where the nerves from the eyes cross inside your head, the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus senses the cycles of light and dark and shifts our brain to a deep sleep mode.

As your waking motor system teeters on the brink of control at that point just before the VLPO takes over, WHAM, KICK whatthehell?!

Now you know. Sleep tight.

(More info at BBC - Future)

Source: bbc.com

403 Notes/ Hide

  1. thepith reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
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  4. aashayen reblogged this from johnny-cupcake
  5. alicedang reblogged this from johnny-cupcake and added:
    Good to know!
  6. melissa-rose reblogged this from johnny-cupcake
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  8. johnny-cupcake reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
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  10. rainbow-arsenic-pixie-sticks reblogged this from lessaismore
  11. artychia reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Happens to me all the damn time.
  12. cats-and-pretty-things reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  13. qeurio reblogged this from unabrogable and added:
    That probably explains my toys I find lying helplessly on the floor every morning/afternoon.. And perhaps me wrapped up...
  14. unabrogable reblogged this from 2bpencil
  15. scienceandbitches reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  16. whatsthestorylittlebones reblogged this from newcrossinn and added:
    YEEEEEEESSS!! Always wanted to know why!
  17. 2bpencil reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  18. greenbean227 reblogged this from ifeelachangeintheair and added:
    Thanks, I do this almost every night when going to sleep and my boyfriend laughs at me for it, lol.
  19. amberlovex3 reblogged this from fightmebro
  20. ifeelachangeintheair reblogged this from thesecondmrsdewinter
  21. theonlyscreamingbanshee said: i remember hearing it has something to do with toxins in your system….from foods and what nots
  22. midnightwanderlust reblogged this from heabuh
  23. johnthelutheran reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Why your body jerks before going to sleep: until reading this I’d always assumed (a) it was only me this happened to,...
  24. whenimreallyathundacat reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  25. process-effect reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    was actually wondering this last night as I was laying...started twitching, then this...

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