# Sleep Convulsions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-convulsions/304388 "2005-05-18T12:21:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-convulsions/304388/1 "2005-05-18T12:21:36Z")
I think most people have these…you are lying in bed falling asleep and suddenly your body does one convulsion - it feels like all your muscles simultanously contract and release - or like someone pressed your reset button. Does anyone know what they are? What causes them? ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-convulsions/304388/2 "2005-05-18T12:30:38Z")
It sounds similar to something I have experienced in dreams where i’m falling. I wake up just as I hit the ground and my body convulses, it feels like I fall from a height of about 6 inches above the bed. Perhaps in those cases it is the body reacting to the dream just like people may thrash about if they are drowning in a dream, just a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-convulsions/304388/3 "2005-05-18T12:47:42Z")
Myoclonic twitches: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=257706&highlight=myoclonic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=257706&highlight=myoclonic) > **[That Violent Twitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=11590)** > > You know it if you’ve had one. The one that wakes you completely up just as you are about to fall asleep. For me it’s a violent twitch, I’ve heard others describe it as a sensation of falling. I’ve heard it said that this is the last rush of... [http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myoclonus/detail\_myoclonus.htm](http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myoclonus/detail_myoclonus.htm)