Sudden waking during sleep? (like a shock)

This is not a likely paranormal topic but I wasn't sure where else to put it.

For the last month or so I've been having episodes where I am literally jolted from my sleep. I'm sure most of you have experienced this from time to time. It's like a sudden shock and being instantly jolted back to conciousness, generally accompanied with a jerking/flailing of the body. I imagine it's a natural occurance of some kind but no matter the search terms I used, I could not find a name for this.

I can recall this happening many times throughout my life but it was something that might only occur a handful of times in a year. During the last month it has been happening almost every night and sometimes multiple times in a night. Last night I awoke this way three times. During one of them I jumped with such force (damn near came off the bed) that I pulled a muscle in my shoulder. Needless to say, this is becoming quite an annoyance.

Of all of these 'wakings' I don't recall having been dreaming at the time, though it would stand to reason that I may have been. In fact, I've not had much recollection of any dreams at all lately. Anyhow, I'm somewhat concerned about the frequency of these episodes and was wondering if any of you might have suggestions or links that might help me figure out what could be causing this.

Thanks.

SK

I don't remember the name of it either but It's happened to me a few times also. Usually what happens for me is I'm running up or down some stairs and I end up tripping and falling. Once I start to trip I get jolted back and wake up. I a few times I've jumped pretty good but never pulled anything.

its when your body is trying to fully rest but your muscles jerk at the last minute

its involuntary

happents to me alot

nothing to worry about at all

its only involuntary muscle reaction

I have experienced this very thing multiple times a month for the past seven years. I'm the proud parent of two small children and have Mom Radar. Hence, the profound sleep deprevation.

Seriously though, it sounds like you may have an underlying medical condition that is steadly getting worse. I highly suggest you visit your doctor. I wish you the very best of health.

I have read about something that may or may not be the same condition you're describing. If I remember correctly it is your body's way of waking you up in order to prevent bad things from happening to you when you reach a very relaxed state while sleeping.

Okay...I did a quick search and I think this is what I read about. It's called Myoclonus. Here's a page with some information about it: www.cnn.com...

Some say it is your astral body returning from an out of body experience . . . or something like that.

I have suffered from this for years and i thought it was anxiety, my doctor says its RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME.

They have medication for it. Your legs jolt in the middle of the night, sending a panic signal to your brain shaking you awake.

Originally posted by xxpigxx
Some say it is your astral body returning from an out of body experience . . . or something like that.

lol, I must have alot of frequent flyer miles than

lol

i bet if you ask about 80% of people you know have or still do experience this every so often

Sandman, I love that dream falling sensation! I like to jump out of airplanes which that may explain why I like those falling dreams so much. If only I had a better recollection of my dreams....

MCD, this is the way I've always thought about this before, only difference now is the amount of them.

Thanks Maria, I'll definitely talk to a doctor if this persists much longer.

John, that was a scary link you gave. Hopefully this falls under the category of "sleep starts".

xxpigxx, I certainly do believe in the astral realm, though I have never had any success with getting there. Who knows, maybe this is related in some way.

dg, this sounds very likely. I do have frequent muscle twitches in my legs, this is something I will look into.

Thanks for all the input everyone....

Hmmm...
O.K.
Well,

I'll let you know what I know on the condition that you'll forgive me if I'm a bit out since I haven't worked with sleepers for a few years.
As far as i can remember there are two 'primary' physical reasons for the symptoms you have described (aside from just stress related bad dreams).

First one is the standard tonic/clonic muscular shock.

There are a few names for it: hypnagogic jerk, myoclonic twitch etc, and it's commonly experienced during the transition from one sleep stage to another.
It's a regular experience by people in the transition stage's of sleeping.
(Alpha/Beta > Beta/Theta > Alpha/Beta or Beta/Theta > Theta/Delta etc. )

This is effectively a musculature response to what can be loosely described as a 'wake up/shut down call' from your CNS upon changing between one stage and another and is actually quite normal to for the Alpha/Beta > Beta/Theta stage's.

Many people simply don't remember them since they are, after all, in the process of going to sleep and literally dropping off.

If you experience them constantly its something of a pain but the alternative is worse.
After all, you don't want your body responding physically to the things you dream and the absence of this CNS shutdown call to your muscles is called (Ta Daaaa!) sleep walking..

Somewhat amusingly the reverse is also true.
Waking up and not having your skeletal muscles turned on at the same time is 'sleep paralysis' and it's responsible for a lot of the 'molested by aliens/demons/granny' reports.

...

The second reason on the other hand is somewhat more serious.

(Actually its a lot more serious and I'm not kidding).

It could very well be a physical panic response to 'sleep apnea'. (CNS type, not obstructive)
CNS type sleep apnea is when you effectively go to sleep and your nervous system forgets to breathe.
You technically suffocate yourself.
The 'jerk' you describe could be the result of your body panicking into waking you up since it's only way you will start to breathe again.

This, as you might imagine, is a BAD thing.

If something like this is happening and it starts to escalate over time, getting more and more prevalent, then you really want to talk to a GP or sleep specialist about it.
If they have any sense they'll arrange a few nights in a EEG'd sleep lab for you and figure out whats going on.

Thats all from me.
Good luck.

Absence.

This used to happen to me a short time ago, I thought I was was the only person expiriencing it till I came on here and noticed other people talking about it, I dont even have to be tired for it to happen I just have to be relaxed and in the right state of mind.

It hasn't happened for a good few weeks but I've been more stressed lately and my sleeping pattern has changed because of it.

I have had something similar but what wakes me is a very very loud BANG, like a pistol shot without ear plugs. I become fully awake instantly. Any other time it takes me a few minutes to fully wake from fairly sound sleep. Its always the same way, and usualy at about 3 am -4 am.

Zindo

^ I think, this definatly comes from an experience in a previous life where someone shot you.
As a child, growing up, i would say till i was 35, i'd always had the feeling i had been shot on the right side of my head. I asked a psychologist once, and he said its very possible it did happen to me.

Also, i can suddenly awaken as if a great explosion or a POP just happened to my head.
I think this goes much further than Restless leg syndrome.

Thanks for that input dgtempe,my legs do this almost every night.Sometimes a few times a night.I always thought it was stress.

reply to post by Absence of Self


What about being woke to a loud piercing noise or more like a very loud beep? So loud it sounds as if someone is setting it off next to your ear. This happens to me sometimes when I am just falling asleep. There is no explanation for where the sound is from and there is nothing in my room that makes a sound similar to what I hear. But it snaps me to wake with a jerk.

Ive had the beep and like a long dawn-out nuke explosion also my arm jerking me back to conciseness and believe it or not i spit on my self right in the middle of the face wierd

A few years ago when I still lived with my parents, this used to happen to me a lot. This was around the time where we had quite a few encounters with ghosts. I remember every night when I would go to sleep, it felt as if someone, or something, was pushing up and down on the end of my bed. It still happens to me today in my apartment. Just not as bad as before. There could be a logical explanation for it, maybe not. Maybe I'm just crazy! lol But I still blame it on those f***ing ghosts!!

Pretty sure that it’s a Hypnic Jerk, though it could be a Periodic Limb Movement issue. PLM’s can sometimes be associated with Sleep Apnea as well.
Info:

A hypnic or hypnagogic jerk is an involuntary muscle twitch (commonly known as a myoclonic twitch) which occurs during the transition into hypnagogia. It is often described as an electric shock or falling sensation, and can cause movement of the body in bed. Hypnic jerks are experienced by most people, especially when exhausted or sleeping uncomfortably.

Nocturnal myoclonus, also called Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD), is a sleep disorder where the patient moves limbs involuntarily during sleep and has symptoms or problems related to the movement. If the patient moves limbs during sleep but there are no consequences, it is simply called periodic limb movements of sleep (PLMS). Not all patients with PLMS have PLMD (in fact, most people with PLMS do not have a disorder requiring any treatment).
PLMS is diagnosed with the aid of a polysomnogram or PSG. PLMD is diagnosed by first finding PLMS on a PSG, then integrating that information with a detailed history from the patient and/or bed partner. PLMS can range from a small amount of movement in the ankles and toes, to wild flailing of all four limbs. These movements, which are more common in the legs than arms, occur for between 0.5 and 5 seconds, recurring at intervals of 5 to 90 seconds. A formal diagnosis of PLMS requires three periods during the night, lasting from a few minutes to an hour or more, each containing at least 30 movements followed by partial arousal or awakening.

Hope that helps.

Originally posted by rezial666

What about being woke to a loud piercing noise or more like a very loud beep? So loud it sounds as if someone is setting it off next to your ear. This happens to me sometimes when I am just falling asleep. There is no explanation for where the sound is from and there is nothing in my room that makes a sound similar to what I hear. But it snaps me to wake with a jerk.

Hi Rezial666,

That one is a perfect candidate for an Auditory Hypnagogic/Hypnopompic hallucination.

They are quite normal but as you may have already guessed can be extremely annoying depending on the nature of the sound experienced and somewhat more irritatingly tend to occur when a person is more exhausted and actually wants to get o sleep.

Extremely loud bangs or crashes not being very conductive to a good night.

In cases where I have experienced Auditory Hypnagogic's myself, it normally takes the form of either a loud bang or loud electrical type beep.

Unfortunately the classification of such experiences can be rather vague due to both the difficulty of studying the phenomena and the variety of sensations reported so everything tends to get lumped together as Hypnagogia and Hypnopompia.

Fortunately, research into these sleep transition states have been of interest to Sleep Psychologists and parapsychologists for some time and you can read (an ok-ish) paper on the subject here: Relationship between the hypnagogic/hypnopompic states and reports of anomalous experiences .

Cheers.

Absence.

P.s.

Just to correct an error in my above post.
The correct order of Brain wave frequency transition's is: Beta > Alpha > Theta > Delta.


[edit on 5-6-2008 by Absence of Self]