Brain expert shares bizarre reason people regularly dream that they are falling in their sleep

Many people settling down to a good night's sleep will on occasion receive a rather rude awakening where it feels as though they're falling and suddenly they're wide awake.

If you're just about to drift off to sleep and then suddenly get a feeling of falling and jerk awake, that's something known as a 'hypnic jerk' or a 'myoclonic jerk'.

This happens as we're falling to sleep and our body is tuning down the muscle function as we won't need them during our rest.

Then suddenly as you're drifting off you feel like you're falling and make an involuntary jerk which wakes you right back up again.

Experts aren't entirely sure what causes this, with some wondering whether it's because you're not sufficiently rested and wound down for bed before you head off to the land of nod.

TikToker Dr Z spoke about some of the science behind this, and what possible causes for being jolted awake might be.

"Things like stress or lack of sleep," he said of the possible triggers for a hypnic jerk.

"Too much caffeine has also been shown to result in hypnic jerks.

"But the neuroscientific explanation for this is that when your brain is transitioning from a state of wakefulness to a state of sleepiness it can sometimes misinterpret the signal as potentially falling."

There you have it, as you fall into slumber your brain sometimes thinks it's actually falling and decides it needs all hands to action stations.

In response the brain makes the body jolt awake, which is the reason why people feel like they're falling and wake up.

The TikTok doc said there were some experts who thought this might be an evolutionary thing to make sure that a person could respond to dangers in time.

He said that in general this sort of thing was not something to be worried about as it's pretty natural, but if you're really worried about it you might want to talk to a medical professional about it.

If you want to self-medicate, the doc said you should try not to drink alcohol or caffeine before bed as that messes with your sleep.

He also recommended that you 'create a calming bedtime routine' so your brain knows it's getting to sleep, relaxing before you drop off is supposed to be helpful.

If you're one of those active types that likes exercise then you'd best do it earlier in the day so your body isn't pumped up for more when the land of nod beckons.