Journal of Sleep Disorders & Therapy

Journal of Sleep Disorders & Therapy
Open Access

ISSN: 2167-0277

Clinical image - (2014) Volume 3, Issue 5

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The Hypnic Reflex, Postulated to be a Monosynaptic Reflex Generated from Spine Stretching as the Muscles Relax around the Intervertebral Discs.

Jerome Fryer*
201-1621, Dufferin Crescent, Nanaimo, BC V9S 5T4, Canada
*Corresponding Author: Jerome Fryer, 201-1621, Dufferin Crescent, Nanaimo, BC V9S 5T4, Canada, Tel: 250-751-0897 Email:

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sleep-disorders-therapy-muscle-lengthening

Figure 1: The rate of muscle lengthening is eventually quick enough to stimulate muscle spindles, eliciting a stretch reflex.

Description

Hypnic jerks are common without unknown origin. They are non-periodic reflexes related to the act of just falling asleep. They are more common in those that are fatigued and thought to be associated with the sensation of a falling dream state. Here, it is proposed that early spinal unloading results in enough stretch to the muscle spindle rich tissues above and below the intervertebral discs eliciting a monosynaptic reflex similar to the knee jerk reflex.

Citation: Fryer J (2014) The Hypnic Reflex, Postulated to be a Monosynaptic Reflex Generated from Spine Stretching as the Muscles Relax around the Intervertebral Discs. J Sleep Disord Ther 3:i102.

Copyright: © 2014 Fryer JC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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