It's REM atonia. In a normal night's sleep, your muscles go limp (no muscle tone, hence "atonia") during the REM phases. Actually it's not so much the muscles themselves but the nerves connecting them to your brain. But furthermore, sleep isn't on big on-off switch. There are many different body systems that transition in and out of phases of sleep. And when you disturb one system (your conscious attention, with the energy drink), the other systems are still trying to follow the normal pattern. So things get out of sync and you experience things like this. It's a sensation that your body isn't familiar with so it might get interpreted as tingling, clenching, a heavy weight, or weightlessness, even pain. It's all in your head though. Your nerves are sending unusual signals and your brain is trying to make sense of them. |
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