Hypnic jerks or sleep starts are benign myoclonic jerks that everyone experiences sometimes in a lifetime. Although they resemble the jerks of myoclonic seizures, they occur on falling asleep and are just benign nonepileptic phenomena.

In summary Hypnic jerks and twitches are completely normal and quite common. They usually don’t indicate an underlying health issue and are simply a muscle contraction during sleep that ranges from mild to intense.

This bedtime tumbling sensation is the phenomenon known as the “hypnic jerk” and may sometimes be accompanied by a visual hallucination. You may have heard it called a “sleep start”, the “hypnagogic jerk” or the “myoclonic jerk”, but for the sake of sanity we’ll just stick with the former.

They can feel like jumps inside the body and usually affect the arms, legs, and upper body. People without epilepsy can feel these types of jerks or twitches, especially when falling asleep or when waking in the morning. Hiccups are another example of what myoclonic seizures feel like.

Having a vitamin D deficiency may cause muscle weakness and twitching. Causes of vitamin D deficiency include lack of exposure to sunshine and poor diet.

Preventing muscle twitching

1. Eat a balanced diet. Follow these tips for eating a balanced diet:
2. Get adequate sleep. Most people require six to eight hours of sleep each night to stay healthy.
3. Manage stress.
4. Limit your caffeine intake.
5. Quit smoking.
6. Switch medications.

Upper limb spasticity is a condition that affects the way you move your arms. It makes your muscles stiff and flexed. Sometimes, your arms will twitch or move in a way you can’t control, called a spasm. Spasticity happens after your body’s nervous system has been damaged, usually by a stroke, disease, or injury.

The onset of ALS may be so subtle that the symptoms are overlooked. The earliest symptoms may include fasciculations (muscle twitches), cramps, tight and stiff muscles (spasticity), muscle weakness affecting a hand, arm, leg, or foot, slurred and nasal speech, or difficulty chewing or swallowing.

Treatment

1. Relax. Try to eliminate stress in your daily life.
2. Limit caffeine. 1
3. Rest.
4. Apply warm compresses to the twitching eye and gently massage the eyelid with your fingers.
5. Try over-the-counter oral or topical (eye drop) antihistamines to slow the eyelid muscle contractions.

Eye muscles are commonly affected by anxiety twitching. Anxiety twitching often gets worse when you’re trying to go to sleep, but usually stops while you’re sleeping. It also often gets worse as your anxiety gets worse. However, it may take some time for anxiety twitching to go away after you get less anxious.

Fatigue, stress, eye strain, and caffeine or alcohol consumption, seem to be the most common sources of eye twitching. Eye strain, or vision-related stress, can occur if you need glasses, a change in prescription, or are consistently working in front of a computer.