# Twitching girlfriend **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019 "2006-03-04T05:00:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reyemile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@Reyemile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reyemile)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/1 "2006-03-04T05:00:21Z")
Sometimes my girlfriend twitches while she is falling asleep. Her whole body just tenses up for a split second, then relaxes. She’ll do this five or ten times over the course of about fifteen minutes, and then she stops. She seems to be asleep the whole time and doesn’t remember doing it. Is she dying horribly of some incurable disease, or is this really common? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/2 "2006-03-04T05:02:32Z")
I thought everybody did this, do you mean to say you do not? ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/3 "2006-03-04T05:04:30Z")
Ok, I looked it up, it’s called [Hypnagogic myoclonus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogic_myoclonus) and apparently > [@](#): > > # Sleep myoclonus occurs during the initial phases of sleep, especially at the moment of dropping off to sleep. Some forms appear to be stimulus-sensitive. Some persons with sleep myoclonus are rarely troubled by, or need treatment for, the condition. However, myoclonus may be a symptom in more complex and disturbing sleep disorders, such as restless legs syndrome, and may require treatment by a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/4 "2006-03-04T05:11:07Z")
I think everybody does it, but you usually don’t notice it unless you make a movement so sharp that you wake yourself up. And even then you might not realize that it’s a common occurrence. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/5 "2006-03-04T05:14:45Z")
I’m prone to it when sleeping someplace new and especially when sleeping (actually sleeping) with someone new. How long you been together? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/6 "2006-03-04T05:25:50Z")
[The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_090.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/7 "2006-03-04T05:32:01Z")
FWIW, my girlfriend and I started sleeping (actually sleeping) together in the morning about a week or so ago and I haven’t noticed this. I’m positive I do it sometimes, though, because I get that falling/flowing feeling a fair bit. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/8 "2006-03-04T05:55:31Z")
She’s dreaming about chasing squirrels. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/9 "2006-03-04T06:09:21Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > [The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_090.html) In this case, what the Master speaketh, is pretty inconclusiveth, and is subject to lots of conjecturishoushness, with all due respect to His Knowingness. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/10 "2006-03-04T07:29:57Z")
The Master was a lot younger then. That’s a 25-year old column. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/11 "2006-03-06T17:06:33Z")
I twitch so much that **Mrs. Cliffy** should get better health insurance. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/12 "2006-03-06T19:23:03Z")
my SO and I both do it all the time as well, it’s only a pain when it wakes me up or if he happens to twitch and kick me or something. Other than that it’s no big deal. Russell ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitching-girlfriend/347019/13 "2006-03-07T01:38:50Z")
I have the restless legs, but they don’t bother me, they have always been like that. My husband should be so lucky. HE gets Evil Hand Syndrome: every now and then one or both of his hands will try to kill him in his sleep. Usually its a one-hand stranglehold on his own throat, but occasionally both hands team up and try to unscrew his head. The noises wake me up and I make him stop. I have to. If he actually succeeded I would never get anyone to believe he sonambuloautothrottled.