Phenomenon is experienced by at least 70% of the population and appears to be a brain response to body relaxation.
Over the past few days, some twitter netizens devoted themselves to discussing a phenomenon that, apparently, is known only to a few: the feeling of be falling off a cliff during the hardest phase early sleep — which is followed, most of the time, by waking up in a daze. Naturally, science has already dedicated itself to analyzing the issue, having named the phenomenon hypnic spasm.
On the same social network, Holly Seddona writer, launched the discussion and said she believed that all the individuals experienced the phenomenon, something that, it turns out, is not true.
As mentioned on the website IFL Sciencehypnic spasm is described by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke’s of the United States of America consists of “sudden muscle contractions” similar to the jumps when we are scared, which often come after a feeling of falling.
Some investigations that explore the phenomenon have observed that these generally occur during the light sleepdo not always lead the individual to wake up and are often accompanied by vivid dreams or hallucinations.
According to the same sourceabout 70% of people have experienced these spasms before—harmless, for the record—but their origin remains unknown, at least unanimously among scientists. One of the suggestions points to the possibility that the brain misinterprets the relaxation of the body as it falls asleep, mistaking the process for a fall and stimulating the body to wake up and act against the effect of gravity.
Exists another theory — caricature, say — which sends the reaction back to the period when our ancestors lived in the trees. “A common hypothesis is that it is a archaic reflex for the brain to misinterpret the muscle relaxation that accompanies the onset of sleep as a sign that the sleeping primate is waking up. fall from a tree,” explains one scientific article.
“The reflex may also have had selective value in making the sleeper readjust or review your position sleeping in a nest or on a branch, in order to ensure that a fall does not occur”. There are, however, little evidence behind this statement.
ZAP // 
