This is a very odd sort of thing to explain but hopefully I can explain it the best I can. Pretty much when I'm in certain positions when asleep, or more importantly when I'm dozing off, I almost get jolted awake. Like it honestly feels like a huge jolt goes through my body and I get up just feeling "WTF?" Though I notice it seems only to happen in only a few cases. First is when I'm dozing off with more than two pillows under me (I sleep with two pillows under my head, not just one on the left one on the right.) So if I have three or four pillows under me? JOLT. Another time is if I have my arm extended up above me. Or if I have my arms both of them above me on either side of my head. I'm wondering could it perhaps be too much blood flow from my arms down to my heart perhaps? It ONLY happens when I am dozing off, I don't recall it ever happening when I've been fully asleep, like jolting awake except for like...a nightmare but it's a totally different feeling from a nightmare (or at least I don't think so). And I've never had this feeling when I'm awake. Any advice would be great. My doctor also constantly says I have the "heart of an athlete" so I don't know if it's heart related. Let me know though if I should also talk WITH the doc about this and soon. I will talk to him or her but getting an appointment at my university is difficult. Usually involves waiting on the phone for 30+ minutes and having to call right at 9 in order to even have a chance to get an appointment....
I just wanted to say that I have experienced that a few times before, too. Like you, I experienced it right when I am dozing off. I have always wondered what it was from. It was the strangest thing. Sorry I can't be of any help though. I just read up on it a bit. According to wikipedia their is something called a hypnic jerk. A hypnic jerk, hypnagogic jerk, sleep start, or night start, is an involuntary myoclonic twitch which occurs during hypnagogia, just as a person is beginning to fall asleep, often causing them to awaken suddenly for a second. Physically, hypnic jerks resemble the "jump" experienced by a person when startled, often accompanied by a falling sensation. A higher occurrence in people with irregular sleep schedules is reported. As for the pillow thing or the arm thing up in the air, I'm not sure. I have never experienced that before.
It's hypnic jerk. It occurs quite frequently when you're overly tired, when your brain has been overstimulated close to bed time, when you fall asleep in a sitting position or sometimes for no reason at all. Most people describe a feeling of falling or a shock sensation. The link that I provided above makes some practical suggestions on how to avoid it.
Yeah I wound up finding a bit more info about it after I posted it. I do need to work on a routine yes, bad sleep habits are potentially my biggest problem. I always wind up stimulating my mind prior to bed even though I know I shouldn't. I'll do my best to work on all this.
I get it the moment I go to bed. I think my heart likes to play a prank on me just when I doze off. Then I eat something transfatty to get back at it. Sigh, I should stop doing that. ONLY BECAUSE REVENGE BREEDS HOSTILITY Yes, I need help!
I get it all the time. the doctor said not to worry. I thought, since I sleep on my side, that i was putting pressure on my heart, but he said it is perfectly normal and safe.
