Have you ever been so tired that the moment you hit the bed, you feel like you are sinking in your mattress? Or did you ever feel your leg twitch in middle of your sleep? Did you feel like you moved your leg to prevent yourself from falling down? If yes, then you are in for a great read!

Why does this happen?

You are not alone, this happens to around 70% of the total population in some way or another. Although these are signs of sleep disorders, it can also happen to people who are otherwise healthy. Sleep disorder specialists believe that there are certain common triggers that leads to such a sensation.

Our brain is exceptional and sometimes when we dream, it makes us believe that we our part of the dream. And if you are falling from somewhere in your dream, chances are, you would feel like you are falling in real life. This experience is known as hypnic jerk, the movement of your muscle that helps you be safe from that fall, or the imaginary one.

What causes it? When we sleep, our bodies become paralyzed, but that does not mean that our muscle control is not totally off. Rather, a slow, dimmer switch. When the dim switch randomly is turned on, we get jerky movements in our sleep.

This involuntary muscle movement is also called myoclonus or hypnic myoclonus, that transitions as you shift from one sleep phase into another.

ALSO SEE: What is sleep paralysis?

What Could Cause It?

There are many theories on what might be causing it. One of them is that when you are at this stage of sleep, you are still not in deep sleep and your brain misinterprets it as wakefulness, however, at the same time your brain does not recognize your muscles to be moving. This is what leads your brain to send a message to your muscles to check-in. It is a way your brain tries to protect you.

Another theory is of course that of stress. When you are stressed, your mind might be racing, while your body is in stationary. This can also affect your sleep cycle and your sleep can be disrupted.

If you are on stimulant drugs or alcohol, it too can prevent you from achieving a good night sleep. If you have consumed too much caffeine then too your muscles can twitch to make you stay awake.

Furthermore, lack of sleep could also be the reason why your mind is used to staying awake even if your body really needs the rest.

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder

While the falling sensation in sleep is quite common, and happens to healthy people, a severe form is the Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD). PLMD is a repetitive cramping or jerking of legs during sleep. It is a movement disorder that happens only during sleep. It is called "periodic" because the movements are repetitive and rhythmic, which means it occurs in every 20 to 40 seconds. It is also often linked with restless legs syndrome, however, the two are not the same thing.

Restless leg syndrome on the other hand is a condition that involves strange sensations in the legs and arms while awake and an irresistible urge to move the limbs to relive the sensations.

What causes PLMD may be more severe things, including diabetes, iron deficiency, spinal cord tumor, spinal cord injury, sleep apnea, uremia, anemia, narcolepsy, or certain medications.

A recent study has indicated that following a healthy diet consistently may help reduce the risk of dementia, even in those who already show early signs of Alzheimer's disease. The study could help in early management of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet May Help Lower Dementia Risk

According to a new study published in the JAMA Network Open, scientists found that participants who maintained better-quality diets over a period of 15 years were less likely to develop dementia, regardless of whether their blood tests indicated the presence of Alzheimer ’s related biomarkers.

The findings also suggest that healthy eating habits may benefit even after the individual shows signs of the disease processes have begun.

About The Study And Its Results

The researchers followed middle-aged and older adults one and a half decades, examining their dietary habits alongside blood biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease, including phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light (NfL).

These biomarkers are commonly used to detect early Alzheimer's-related changes and neurodegeneration before symptoms of the disease become visible.

The participants followed a healthy diet, particularly a Mediterranean-style as well as an anti-inflammatory diet. The findings showed that individuals with healthier diets had a lower risk of developing dementia over the follow-up period.

Remarkably, this association was observed even among participants who presented Alzheimer's biomarkers, indicating that diet may offer protective benefits despite early signs.

Alzheimer's disease begins years, and sometimes decades, before memory problems emerge. During this preclinical stage, abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain while individuals remain symptom-free.

Read more: New Blood Test May Predict Alzheimer's Symptoms At Least 4 Years In Advance: Study

The new findings indicate that lifestyle factors such as diet could still influence dementia risk even after these biological changes have started. This reinforces growing evidence that preventive measures need not be limited to people without detectable Alzheimer's pathology.

Not A Preventative Measure

While the study shows promising results of the effect of a healthy diet on the neurodegenerative disease, it does not prove that diets can directly prevent dementia.

The researchers emphasized that the study was merely an observation, meaning it highlighted an association rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship. It just supports the idea that long-term healthy eating could have a significant impact on one’s brain health throughout adulthood.

Benefits Of Anti-Inflammatory & Mediterranean Diets

The anti-inflammatory diet, as recommended by Harvard Nutrition Source, helps calm the immune system by choosing foods that reduce inflammation.

This dietary approach encourages a balance of fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, and other nutrient-dense foods while avoiding those that trigger inflammation.

On the other hand, Mediterranean diet, long celebrated for its heart-and longevity-promoting benefits, is now gaining attention for its beneficial effects on the brain.

This diet emphasizes plant-based foods, healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, with moderate fish intake.

In another study published in Nature Medicine, researchers observed that individuals at the highest genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, particularly carriers of the APOE4 gene variant, showed the most significant reduction in dementia risk when adhering closely to this dietary pattern.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world and is the fastest-growing neurological condition worldwide. Its classic hallmarks - resting tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity usually lead to diagnosis only after extensive dopaminergic neuronal loss has already happened. Newer research, however, highlights a prodromal window that might open decades earlier. There’s an increasing theory that pathological changes of the nervous system could start in a person’s 20s. This means that early detection is not just desirable but could be transformative for clinical outcomes.

Individuals with PD at prodromal and early motor stages alike report symptoms in multiple domains, including behavioral, cognitive, autonomic, sensory, sleep-related, and activities of daily living. Most of these symptoms are subtle and overlap with common conditions, so they aren’t often recognized or are mistaken for ageing, stress or other lifestyle factors. So, identifying consistent patterns amid daily behavioral variations is crucial for improving early PD detection.

Sleep Disturbances: An Early Warning Sign

One of the most robust prodromal markers is REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). People who are affected have sleep disruption, physically act out their dreams during REM phase (acting out dreams), and vivid dream life and some through sleepwalking — all of them worthy substrates for signals of early brainstem pathology.

Loss of Smell May Appear Years Before Diagnosis

Anosmia, a partial or complete loss of the sense of smell, could be PD’s earliest recognizable sign, occurring as much as 10 years before motor signs become apparent. In practice, this means being unable to easily perceive familiar smells like food or coffee. Because this symptom manifests so early and appears so unrelated to the health of the brain, it is rarely taken seriously in clinical practice.

Gut Changes and the Brain Connection

Chronic constipation is a common prodromal symptom indicating reduced gut motility that can predate motor symptoms by years. This observation is consistent with the gut–brain axis hypothesis: gut microbiota dysbiosis disrupts gastrointestinal motility, permeability and inflammation, which may facilitate a prion-like transmission of misformed alpha-synuclein (α-syn) from gut to brain through the enteric nervous system.1 further underscoring the biomarker potential of gastrointestinal symptoms with clinical relevance.

Subtle Changes in Movement and Mood

Before tremors are apparent, there can be subtle changes in fine motor control. Trouble with tasks such as handwriting, using electronic devices or manipulating small objects, along with uncharacteristic anxiety or a low mood, can serve as signals of the preclinical stage. Micrographia (progressively smaller and cramped handwriting) is a particularly telling sign from daily life that deserves a neurological workup when it appears without an obvious cause.

Fatigue and Autonomic Symptoms Can Precede Motor Signs

Fatigue that never seems to get better with rest affects work performance, social engagement and daily motivation, and can occur long before an official diagnosis. More than half of all PD patients develop at least one form of autonomic dysfunction, which can precede motor symptoms by four years or more, and is now being recognized as a key prognostic biomarker for prodromal PD. Cardiovascular instability, orthostatic hypotension, and urinary irregularities further influence how individuals navigate everyday environments long before a definitive diagnosis is made.

Recognizing Early Signals Can Transform Care

The evidence reviewed here collectively supports a paradigm shift: Parkinson's disease is best defined as systemic, progressive, and with recognizable signals in daily life long before motor signs of decline. Disrupted sleep, anosmia, gastrointestinal changes, fine motor difficulties and chronic fatigue are not complaints in a vacuum; they are potential early signs of a neurological process left unsupervised and now in motion. Incorporating routine clinical assessment of these behavioural precursors and pre-motor signs would allow us to meaningfully extend the opportunity for therapeutic intervention, which could in turn improve patient outcomes across a broad range of CNS disorders.

World Zoonoses Day is being observed today amid growing concerns over the rising threat of zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, Marburg and Nipah. More than 60% of human pathogens are zoonotic, while nearly 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals.

According to the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID), spillover events—where pathogens jump from animals to humans—have tripled since the 1980s, fueled by deforestation, wildlife trade, industrial farming and climate change.

In an interview with HealthandMe, Dr Nivedita Gupta, Scientist and Head of the Communicable Diseases Division at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), outlined the key measures policymakers should prioritize to reduce the risk of future pandemics and strengthen global health security.

Dr Gupta stressed that preventing the next pandemic requires a proactive approach built on integrated surveillance, coordinated data sharing, community participation and stronger indigenous research and development.

Strengthening Surveillance

According to Dr Gupta, the first priority should be strengthening surveillance across all sectors—across humans, animals and the environment.

"I think first part is that surveillance should be strengthened in all domains, whether it is human surveillance, animal surveillance, wildlife surveillance, as well as environmental surveillance. So, we really need to do integrated surveillance and strengthen all aspects."

She said early detection is critical to identifying emerging pathogens before they become larger public health threats.

"Unless we are able to detect what is happening at various interfaces, we will never come to know that a certain pathogen or a disease is emerging."

Also read: World Zoonoses Day 2026: Next Pandemic Very Likely, And The World Is Still Underprepared, Says WHO Scientist

Human And Animal Health Data

The second major priority, she said, is ensuring that surveillance data across sectors is connected.

"If I'm seeing unusual bird or animal deaths, if I'm sitting in human sector, I should also know about it and I should be able to act very timely to understand whether there are any implications on humans and vice versa."

Dr Gupta said data from human, animal and wildlife surveillance systems should "talk to each other" to detect zoonotic diseases at an early stage.

She also highlighted the importance of recognizing reverse zoonosis.

"It's not only that we get infections from animals, birds, and wildlife, but animals also get infected from humans. So, that is known as reverse zoonosis. So, it is both ways."

According to her, anything occurring in the human sector should raise equal alarm in the non-human sectors, and vice versa.

Communities Should Become 'Eyes And Ears'

Also read: Natural Origin or Lab Leak? Gabbard Reignites COVID Origins Debate, Claims Fauci Funded Wuhan Lab Research

Dr Gupta said community participation is another critical pillar of pandemic preparedness.

"I think we really need massive community sensitization. And community should be our eyes and ears because there are many people who live in remote areas, who live in forest fringes, and they might be seeing many unusual things happening like sudden deaths among animals, carcasses."

She noted that there is currently no system to help people recognize unusual events or report them to the authorities.

"I think those systems wherein our community can be our eyes and ears is something that we really need to develop in our country so that any unusual occurrence which happens within domestic animals or forest fringes or in birds or poultry farms can be immediately reported to the relevant authorities and a timely action can be taken."

Strengthen Indigenous R&D

Dr Gupta also stressed the need to strengthen the research ecosystem and also work in collaboration with the industry. She said academia and industry currently work in separate silos, making it difficult to rapidly translate research into products.

It is important "to align academia and industry so that industry gets ready-made products which align with the priorities of the country."

The expert added that stronger industry-academia partnerships would help develop products that serve national priorities.

What Can Individuals Do?

On the role of citizens, Dr Gupta said individuals can contribute by reporting unusual events involving animals or wildlife.

"If I see any unusual thing happening in my domestic settings or around me or if I'm a person residing at forest fringes or in bird sanctuaries, I see unusual deaths, I should be able to report them."

However, she pointed out that governments must first establish a reporting mechanism. "So, currently, even if I want to report today, I don't know where to go."

She said people need to be informed about what constitutes an unusual event and how to report it.

"I think that community sensitization telling them what is unusual, what has to be taken up with a pinch of salt, what has to be reported to the authorities really needs to be told to the people of the country so that they start reporting and they become our sentinels."