Hi all, my first post on here... so hello!

I need to ask something that I have a suspicion might be common among badminton players (and probably table tennis players).

Do you find that you twitch a lot whilst falling asleep? You know as you're falling asleep and you get that falling feeling which makes you jolt? It's a little bit weird, but the faster I notice my game getting the more I appear to twitch as I fall asleep. Do you think that there is a relationship between the speed of your reactions and the number of times it happens?

When I played badminton at college it happened a lot, then I stopped playing for a while (and so did the twitching), and now I've been playing again competitively for about 5 years and it's got worse and worse and worse.

Please let me know your feelings on this.

Cheers.

Sandmandj. :D

I think everyone gets this, not just badminton players.

Oh yeah, I know everyone gets this..... sorry I should have made that a little clearer.

What I want to know is if badminton players get it more than normal. :)

What you're describing is called hypnic jerk - it's thought to originate from when human precursors slept in trees and needed to guard against falling (hence the sensation of danger). Sleep deprivation is a common cause, as I can readily attest being on medication that has me up at 3 am to post this reply:o, but I've never read anything that connects it to sporting activities; it might be that you're acting out badminton in your dreams so vigourously that it wakes you up - it used to happen to me sometimes when I played squash.

Hypnic jerk is a once or twice per night condition; a more chronic version is nocturnal myoclonus (AKA periodic limb movement disorder). A lot of sufferers actually sleep through it, but not all, so I would suggest that you investigate this as well.

I have violent twitches...ironically enough all of them involve badminton one way or another. I remember trying to make defense shots and smashes and my arm flying through the air and hitting the wall next to my bed lol

yes i have had this happen and usually its nothing to bad like my leg with twitch while im sleeping or mu arm with twitch but i have had some unique ones i remember once i fell asleep in a chair and there were people around and my arm moved like it was hitting an overhead shot and landed in my lap and i woke up at that instant and they were all staring at me, have also had some wierd ones where its like im in backhand defense and i wake up and its a bit WTF is going on why is my hand there kinda thing. not sure why it happens like that or what causes it though but yeah there have been others.

I have violent twitches...ironically enough all of them involve badminton one way or another. I remember trying to make defense shots and smashes and my arm flying through the air and hitting the wall next to my bed lol

This is what I thought the original post was about. Yes, I often dream I'm playing and just as I fall asleep I may swing my arm, flick my wrist, or sometimes even try a lunge. My wife often does this and I almost got a backhand drive across my face. She's a leftie. I also get hit on my right arm as I shift while driving after badminton because she usually falls asleep.

I've done this on the bus and almost hit someone...

Interesting - my most common "sleep shot" is also a backhand smash block. Luckily I'm a rightie and my bed is next to a wall on its left, so no smashed knuckles, but does it say something about my style that I'm choosing to do defensive shots in my sleep:D?

Once I 'smashed' while I had a telly remote in my hand.....hehehe

Last night I did it and gave someone their fright of the day. It was a big jerk too, coming from my shoulder/chest where the power for your smash comes from.

Badminton related:

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10298&highlight=twitches

If you are talking about general twitches (non-badminton related) my wife gets these as she falls to sleep - I know when she is dropping off as her legs or arms twitch!

Sometimes I think that a birdie is being smashed at my face, so I jerk my head "out of the way" as I try to position myself for a "block to the net"...

lol

My favorite stroke is the backhand lift. This occurs between the waking state and the sleep state of consciousness. What I see is the shuttle coming at me and I feel the contact then my racquet enters the picture. At that instant my eyes open and I see that my hand has moved only an inch or two not the full movement of the lift. This happens when one tries to go to sleep soon after an exciting or rewarding such as badminton

It is harmless except that it may delay entering the sleep state for a minute or two. To prevent it allow your brain some excitation like TV before going to bed.

Thanks for all the comments. Isn't it strange though, that most of my twitches are a result of dreaming of defence shots? Normally it's a bird being smashed towards my stomach or face. If it's the face then I twitch my head to the side, if it's toward the stomach then my arm goes for the backhand block.

It appears to normally be defence shots causing the problem! How strange!