Twitching to sleep

Fall asleep (synonyms: sleep myoclonus, hypnagogic jerks, benign sleep myoclonus) are sudden, short jerks ( myoclonus ) of the body that occur while falling asleep. Sometimes falling asleep is accompanied by subjectively perceived bright flashes of light (visual twitching to sleep), loud noises (auditory twitching to sleep) or the feeling of falling or stumbling. Twitching to sleep occurs sporadically in around 70% of the population and is a natural phenomenon without any disease value. In toddlers falling asleep are even more common and are also observed during sleep.

Diagnostics and classification

Objective spasms of sleep can be measured by means of electromyography (EMG). In the EMG they appear as short (75–250 ms), high-amplitude potentials in the course of falling asleep or in light sleep. Sometimes this leads to wake-up reactions ( arousals in the electroencephalogram ), accelerated heartbeat ( tachycardia in the electrocardiogram ) and irregular breathing. If sleep spasms occur so frequently or severely that they disrupt falling asleep or lead to waking up, the diagnosis of sleep myoclonus is made according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders . The fragmentary myoclonus, the propriospinal myoclonus, periodic leg movements , convulsions, and myoclonus epilepsy must be distinguished from the myoclonus asleep .

literature

• American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2005): International Classification of Sleep Disorders Diagnostic and Coding Manual (ICSD-2).
• Peter et al .: Encyclopedia of Sleep Medicine . Springer, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-28839-8 .
• Stuck et al .: Practice of sleep medicine: sleep disorders, sleep-related movement and breathing disorders, snoring . Springer, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-88699-0 .
• Happe et al .: Sleep Medicine in Practice . Springer, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-609-16406-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Walter, AS (2007). Clinical identification of the simple sleep-related movement disorders . Chest, 131, 1260-1266.
2. ^ Gerschlager, W. & Brown, P. (2009). Myoclonus . In: Current Opinion in Neurology , 22 (4), 414-418.

Web links

• American Academy of Sleep Medicine website

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !