Involuntary Muscle facts

While investigating facts about Involuntary Muscles and Involuntary Muscle Movement, I found out little known, but curios details like:

A hypnic jerk is a brief and sudden involuntary contraction of the muscles of the body which occurs when a person (not only me apparently) is beginning to fall asleep, often causing the person to jump and awaken suddenly for a moment

how involuntary muscles work?

After winning the gold at the 1980 Olympics, Polish vaulter Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz, in defiance of the jeering Soviet crowd, flipped "the arm", twice. The Soviets later asked that he be stripped of his medal to which the Polish government replied that it was caused by "involuntary muscle spasms".

What are some causes of involuntary muscle movement?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what street drugs cause involuntary muscle movement. Here are 11 of the best facts about Involuntary Muscle Contraction and Involuntary Muscle Spasms I managed to collect.

what's involuntary muscles?

1. Up to 70% of people will experience a hypnagogic jerk when falling asleep. A hypnagogic jerk is an involuntary muscle spasm that occurs as a person is drifting off to sleep. The phenomenon is so named in reference to the hypnogogic state — the transitional period between wakefulness and sleep.

2. Duchenne smiles; a "genuine" smile where involuntary facial muscle contractions occur. In a study, a man with partial facial paralyses cannot fake a smile, but produces one when truly happy. *Also*, some can fake Duchenne smiles (e.g. actors), suggesting we might hack our own emotional brain.

3. Pollen and nectar of some species of rhododendron contain toxic substance called grayanotoxin that can induce poisoning of humans and animals. Horses are especially sensitive to this type of toxin. Signs of intoxication include abdominal pain, irregular heartbeat, involuntary muscle contractions and coma that can lead to death.

4. Involuntary muscle movements generally associated with Parkinson's Disease (dyskinesia) are actually a side effect of the medication used to treat PD, not of PD itself

5. Coffee makes you poop by stimulating something called peristalsis, the "involuntary constriction and relaxation of the muscles of the intestine or another canal, creating wavelike movements that push the contents of the canal (aka dookie) forward"

6. Heart transplant patients do not feel chest pains in case of a heart attack of the donor heart because it is an involuntary muscle and the new heart does not form connections with the new host's nervous system

7. Contrary to popular belief, when a person is drowning, they usually don't inhale much water. In actuality, an involuntary muscle spasm seals the airway.

8. Biofeedback uses training with electrical sensors to allow one to control normally involuntary bodily functions such as heart rate. For instance, a patient might learn to control muscles in their head and thus be able to lessen intense headaches by consciously relaxing these muscles.

9. Moving ear syndrome, which is a type of dyskinesia, in which voluntary muscle movements diminish or involuntary movements, including tics and spasms, occur.