Thursday 20 September 2012

I'm Curious

Oh Hai by foundimagination
Here's something I've been wondering.

You know those times when you're asleep, but it's a fairly light sleep? And you're half dreaming and in the dream you stumble on a crack or miss a step and you fall in the dream, and at the same time your leg jumps and you wake up and you're scared because it really did feel like you were falling there?

Well, what happens first? In your brain-like, I mean? Do you have the dream and your brain forgets to tell your leg it's just kidding so it responds as if the situation were real? Or, does your brain listen in on your leg plotting, and finds out that it's going to to a jerk/jump and decides it should make up a story to go along with it so you're not confused and so the brain makes the dream happen to coincide with the leg jump because it's just that awesome?

So.... which is it? The dream causes the leg to twitch or the leg twitch causes the dream?

5 comments:

Matt79 said...

I think the dream causes the leg-twitch. It feels to me like it happens in that order. I've heard that when you're dreaming the brain keeps sending signals to muscles, but in proper sleep the link to the muscles is switched off, but in that half-sleep the link hasn't quite switched off yet.

Victoria said...

Sounds about right, eh?

Miss Invisible said...

This reminded me of the dream I had this morning about spiders. I woke up from that dream because I got goosebumps on my arms. This was the first time that happened. Spiders scare me the most. I wish goosebumps could wake us up as quickly as a leg twitch does. I hate spiders.

Dominic said...

The whole "falling sensation as you go to sleep" thing is, by the way, the reason it's referred to as "falling asleep"

Victoria said...

Yikes, that would not be a nice wake up Miss Invisible!

Hmmmm, really D?