Twitching mammals...why?

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Tonight, I nearly went to sleep on the sofa.

On my lap was my cat.

As she went to sleep, she went through that twitching thing cats (and dogs etc.) always do as they fall asleep.

So did I.

(yes, I know, it's tragic, but it's been a long day...)

What's the mechanism behind that twitching we mammals do. (Well, heck, you're right...I don't know about whales...but I bet every other mammal does, so there. Reptiles and insects and such...I have no idea...)

Is it a super twitch that wakes up that makes us have that "I just fell into my bed from up there somewhere" feeling?

If not, what's WITH that?

It feels so weird.

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The twitches actually help muscles relax.

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DrewDad wrote:

The twitches actually help muscles relax.

I figured they were a sign of, or assisted in, muscle relaxation....but WHY? HOW?

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Tell me more, drewdad...

I've wondered about that too. I've noticed it happens more when there is more tension, and I thought it had to do with tense muscles... something. (Giving way suddenly? I dunno.)

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sozobe wrote:

Tell me more, drewdad...

I've wondered about that too. I've noticed it happens more when there is more tension, and I thought it had to do with tense muscles... something. (Giving way suddenly? I dunno.)

I sometimes find it hard to sleep, and I kind of enjoy the twirching.

It's funny when an animal wakes itself up that way!

They look just as dumb as we do when we do it. Only humans often try that "I wasn't really asleep" thing.

At one point, when I was stressed to buggary, and not coping well, I took to nodding off in staff meetings. My boss would fire questions at me in revenge, and she was always very frustrated because I would come awake instantly, and answer them sensibly. Must have been no end of a pain.

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OK, it appears that I was wrong....

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_090.html

I thought that twitches warmed the muscle tissue and induced relaxation.

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Well, it seems the twitches DO cause the "falling into the bed" thing and ARE related to stress:

Twitches while falling asleep are called hypnagogic myoclonus, myoclonus being any sort of involuntary muscle spasm and hypnagogic referring to sleep. The twitches occur during very light sleep as the conscious brain gradually relinquishes control of the motor functions. Often they're accompanied by a sense of falling, or the feeling that something is flowing through the body, and sometimes people will experience vivid dreams or hallucinations.

It's not known exactly what causes the twitches, but they appear to be associated (although by no means invariably) with (a) anxiety and (b) some faint stimulus, such as a noise. The twitches have been induced in test subjects who were instructed to push a button whenever they heard a low tone. When, as usually happened, the subjects nodded off after a while--you know how exciting psychology experiments are--the tone would often cause a subject to twitch after a lag of a few seconds.

It's conjectured that the subjects consciously knew they were supposed to stay awake, that they fell asleep anyway, and that the tone jarred the semiconscious brain into trying to scramble itself into action again. That would explain why you experience the twitches during boring lectures. It's thought that at times the stimulus can be purely involuntary, such as a dream.

But, then...why are dogs and cats so very stressed?

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Deeply ingrained fear of predators?

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kickycan wrote:

Deeply ingrained fear of predators?

Hmmm...they ARE predators.

Are you a twitcher, Kicky?

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Why are dogs and cats so stressed? Well, the domesticated ones are forced to live with us...

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Tai Chi wrote:

Why are dogs and cats so stressed? Well, the domesticated ones are forced to live with us...

They can run away!

But, I take your point.

They exchange one form of stress for another, perhaps?

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It does say that it's not invariably associated with stress... I'm thinking this is one of the variations! I really can't feature that my cat is stressed in any way. Literally all she does ALL DAY is sleep in the same position on the bed until I get home. She has tried to convince me that it's harder than it looks, though.

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But, then...why are dogs and cats so very stressed?

I'm guessing that cats and dogs live with a lot more sensory input than civilized human beings. Some days the world just doesn't feel like an absolutely safe place--particularly when owners are giving off stress-induced odors.

After all, owners are gods and when gods are stressed....

Twitching mammals...why?

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