A hypnagogic jerk, or hypnic jerk, is when you startle yourself awake just as you are drifting off to sleep. The video describes what a hypnic jerk is, how common they are, and who typically experience them. Viewers are offered two differing theories of why these twitches happen, and given suggestions for things they can do to reduce their frequency.

Concepts

sleep, muscles, the human body

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Have pupils keep a calendar of each night they experience hypnic jerks, then combine the data from multiple classes to look for patterns
• After keeping the calendar, divide into groups (including a control) and try a few of the solutions listed to see if scholars notice an improvement

Classroom Considerations

• Remember the comment section is not usually safe for classrooms and this video's comments are not an exception

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Includes closed captioning in Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish
• Provides links to extended research on the topic for those wishing to learn more

Cons

• None