Why do people twitch in their sleep? What causes you to jump in your sleep? Today’s topic is all about hypnagogic jerk or hypnic jerk spiritual meaning, symptoms, causes, and treatment. So, stay connected.
In today’s article, you will be learning everything about jumping in your sleep, sleep start, or hypnic jerk.
First, let’s learn something new and interesting about superstition, myth, and the spiritual meaning of the hypnic jerk. Later we will be covering the introduction, causes, and preventive measures of night start.
What Does a Hypnic Jerk Mean Spiritually?
Like other body activities and health conditions, the hypnic jerk also carries the spiritual meaning, myth, or superstition that people have been following since the dawn of human civilization.
The hypnic jerk spiritual meaning varies depending on the religions, traditions, and geographical location. However, there are some myths, superstitions, or spiritual meanings of hypnic jerks that are believed by a majority of the people in the world.
In this article, we are trying to highlight those spiritual meanings or beliefs related to the hypnagogic jerk that is popular in almost all communities.
Although the twitching while sleeping makes you nervous when you wake up, its spiritual meaning is not that bad. This physiological phenomenon is not happening to scare you or to attack you spiritually.
Many people might think of this moment as an attack by a ghost or negative spirit, but that’s not the real scenario. In reality, the sleep start is a good omen in that you are constantly observed, guided, and controlled by the higher spirit or the universal force.
A hypnic jerk is one of the many ways or media through which the spirits communicate with the persons in the physical world.
The spirit of the higher realm always wants you to stay connected with it every time, not only during the daytime but also when your body is in relaxation mode in the nighttime.
There are so many worldly things, activities, and behaviors that keep people disconnected from the origin of the human consciousness, or the spirit.
Twitching or jumping when sleeping is one of the many channels through which the higher spirit is trying to reach you and alert you of the situation that might go wrong for you if you do not stay alert consciously during the dark night, as negative forces or ghosts keep roaming the earth during that time.
Hypnic Jerk Spiritual Meaning and Messages
It is easier to summarize the important message or spiritual meaning of the hypnic jerk in the following points. The symbolic meaning, in a nutshell, is to stay alert, a reminder to pray, and the omen of protection.
1) Stay alert
The life of human beings is surrounded by risks and dangers everywhere. You can take control of any situation during the daytime, but you might be completely helpless during the darkness of the night.
The higher spirit always sends signals or signs to make you alert not only during the nighttime but also during the day. The dreams and the hypnic jerks are among many of the alert signs send by the higher spirit.
Therefore, it is your duty to read those signals and make yourself alert every time. Take hypnic jerk as a precautionary sign and make yourself alert at any moment.
2) God’s protection from negative forces
Whenever you are attacked by negative forces or ghosts during the nighttime, God makes you awake through a hypnic jerk so that you will be safe from the harm of the negative force.
Evil spirits can’t take control of your body when you are awake. Therefore, take a jerk or twitch while sleeping as s sign that you are being protected by God.
3) Reminder to pray
Pray is the only easy form of spiritual transformation and making a connection with God or a higher spirit. Every religion has mentioned the same importance of the pray to God.
It is the mode of communication between the higher spirit and the human being. Likewise, prayer is the only medium through which you will receive blessings from the higher realm to make your life happy, and prosperous.
You will land into a series of problems if you deny the value of prayer. So, a hypnic jerk is a reminder for you to keep praying for spiritual growth and for happiness and success in the physical world.
Hypnic Jerk Spiritual Meaning: Catholic Christian Explanation
According to Catholic Christians, the hypnic jerk is an omen that Satan is trying to control your body by paralyzing it in a transition phase between conscious and unconscious states.
They believe that Satan can’t affect your physical body when you are completely awake, but when you go to bed the physical body starts relaxing, and it is the right time for Satan to creep in and control your body.
The spiritual meaning of hypnic jerk is also God’s watchful eye over Catholics, according to the followers of Christianity.
It is said that when Satan tries to control your body, God makes you alert through hypnic jerk so that you will become conscious and the Satan is forced to leave your body.
According to Catholic Christians, the hypnic jerk spiritual meaning also is to remind us of the duty of Christians to pray the rosary (Catholic prayer and devotion that was started in 1208 by Saint Dominic).
They believe that, through the hypnic jerk, the mother of God is alerting the Christians to stay conscious and keep praying even during sleep or the state of complete relaxation of the body.
Hypnic Jerk Dying
From the state of activity to the relaxation of sleep, there is a stepwise process of slowdown. In this transition phase of consciousness to unconsciousness, the body slows down everything.
Here, the muscles relax, the breathing and heart rate slow down, and all these activities trigger the brain to chill out.
If the activity of normal slowdown is disturbed or if the body tries to hasten the process of slowing down, the condition of hypnic jerk dying happens. The hypnic jerk dying is a state of the body that causes the brain to think as if the body is dying.
So, to overcome this dying state of the body, the brain increases its activity rapidly to return the so-called dying state of the body to the normal process. As a result, there is an involuntary, rapid jerk or twitch of the whole or part of the body, known as a hypnic jerk dying.
Hypnic Jerk During Daytime
This is a type of hypnagogic jerk that happens when you are awake during the daytime. Like a bedtime hypnic jerk, the exact reason for the daytime hypnic jerk is still unknown.
But some researchers believe that the physiological phenomenon of the hypnic jerk during daytime is often associated with hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis: each of these components happens independently.
The harmless muscle twitch is barely noticeable, it only startles you with no other prominent symptoms. The transient shaking of the body is due to muscle contraction in the phase of wakefulness and sleep.
To prevent muscle twitch or hypnic jerk during the daytime, just take a deep breath so that the body will easily return back to a normal muscle state.
Hypnic Jerk: Medical Explanations
Also known as a sleep start, a hypnagogic jerk is a sudden, strong, and brief involuntary contraction of the muscles in some parts or whole of the body. The jerky movement or twitching of the body occurs when a person starts to fall asleep leading to a sudden jump or waking up from the bed at night.
Although the exact cause is still unknown, some studies point out the irregular sleep pattern responsible for the hypnagogic jerk or body twitching while sleeping.
Men are reported to experience this sleep disorder more frequently than women. Likewise, the more frequent and severe the hypnic jerk is the more you are likely to suffer from seep-onset insomnia.
Research suggests that as many as three-fourths of people around the world experience twitching when falling asleep.
When you have a hypnagogic jerk, it will be accompanied by one or many of the following symptoms.
- Falling sensation: falling into the void
- Rapid heartbeat, increased breathing rate, sweat
- Blur dream experience
- Hallucination
It is necessary to understand that the hypnic jerk is not a serious health issue or a disease condition. Muscle contraction during sleep doesn’t cause any side effects or health complications.
Other Names of Jumping in Your Sleep
- Hypnic jerk
- Hypnagogic jerk
- Sleep start
- sleep twitch
- Myoclonic jerk
- Night start
- Jump in sleep
- Myoclonus
What causes Jumping in Your Sleep or Hypnic Jerk?
The exact factors that lead to the hypnagogic jerk are yet to be cleared, but the following possible causes are supposed to be responsible for the twitching while sleeping.
-irregular sleep schedule or sleep disturbance is also supposed to be associated with the night starts.
-chronic stress and anxiety not only cause hypnic jerk they are also the prime reasons for other sleep disorders such as light sleep, and insomnia, among many others.
-caffeine and stimulants such as tea, coffee, smoking cigarette, and drinking alcohol alters the natural sleep cycle and might lead to sleep starts.
-vigorous exercise after midday
How to Treat Hypnic Jerk?
As we have mentioned earlier, hypnic jerk is not a serious illness and it doesn’t cause any health complications, that’s why no treatment is necessary.
Just following some preventive measures help to reduce the frequency and severity of the twitching while sleeping. The following tips, if applied regularly, will help to prevent the night start or sleep start.
-reduce the intake of caffeine and stimulants such as coffee, tea, nicotine, and alcohol after midday (avoid during the evening).
-avoid high-intensity and strenuous body exercises after midday.
-get rid of any technological devices at least half an hour before you go to bed so that the brain gets ready for your good night’s sleep.
-breathing exercises are known to be effective for deep sleep and to prevent hypnagogic jerks. You can do this exercise several times when you are in bed.
For this, take a long, deep breath for ten counts, try to hold the breath for five counts, and exhale slowly for ten counts.
Final Words from Health Kura
Although the hypnic jerk doesn’t pose any threat to body health, some people get stressed due to this bedtime problem. It is always good to follow preventive measures to avoid this physiological phenomenon.
You must try to stay away from the factors or reduce intake of the substances that are likely to cause the twitching while sleeping.
Like other spiritual omens, hypnic jerk’s spiritual meaning is to guide and protect the people and to make them aware of their spiritual responsibility. This means to make you wiser and lead you to the deeper truth of life.
The prime goal of this article on “Hypnic Jerk Spiritual Meaning” is to make you aware of the physical health and spiritual connection of human life.
Video: Falling Sensation while Sleeping Spiritual Connection
Sources
- https://www.sleepfoundation.org/parasomnias/hypnic-jerks
- https://www.sleep.org/how-sleep-works/hypnic-jerks/
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