Involuntary Bodily Movement While Trying to Sleep

Quite a few times while I'm lying in a state of numbness (pre-SP, I guess?), patiently counting to infinity in order to have a WILD, one of my limbs will move quite suddenly...without me putting any effort into it.

One time, I was lying flat on my back, with my legs outstretched. Then before I knew it, my legs folded, ankles drawn near my crotch.

Another time, while I had my arms resting over my face, one arm suddenly shot out and smacked the wall behind me.

And I don't know if this is related or not, but...a few months back when I was attending classes at a college 70 miles away, I would fall asleep on my 3-hour bus rides home sitting in an upright position, head slightly nodded. And out of nowhere my head would sometimes jerk back violently, as if someone had just kicked me in the head. (My mouth was usually hanging wide open whenever that happened, so it must have looked to the other passengers like I was doped up on drugs...)

Oh, and another involuntary bodily anomaly I thought was worth mention is one time while I was trying to WILD, I would suddenly pop a woody for no reason at all the moment I reached SP; it happened twice in the same day, and both times it prevented SP. And I wasn't having any sexual thoughts or anything. :mad:

So...does anyone else have these weird involuntary bodily experiences while trying to sleep?

Yeah, I get the involuntary movements. They tend to wake me up a bit, but on the other hand they indicate that I am right on the verge of sleep so during WILD attempts I sometimes use them as a guide. After one of these movements I know that I will be in a dream within a few minutes even with the slight setback in falling asleep. Actually, they probably increase my chances of a successful WILD.

As for the wood: supposedly we all have erections at the onset of REM and it has nothing to do with sexual thoughts. So it's normal.

I spasm a lot while falling asleep too. I start to imagine things and suddenly I'll randomly half-dream I'm standing on a plank or something and my legs will go flying as I "lose balance".
Lots of similar cirumstances, different imagery / "dreams", you get the idea.

They're called hypnic jerks and there's nothing you can do about them. =)