Jactatio Capitis Nocturna is the fancy name for bouncing your head and kicking your legs to fall asleep.  I've heard it called RMD (Rhythmic Movement Disorder) but I like JCN better.

I don't consider it a disorder.  Being an albino is a disorder.

And it's not Restless Leg Syndrome.  Trust me.

I've been doing it since I was born.  When I was little I even used to rock back and forth while sitting up and watching TV.  The head bouncing was steady until my mid-20's.  I used to love to listen to music and bounce my head on the pillow in time to whatever song I was listening to on my stereo.  The leg kicking has always been there and now that I'm in my 30's, it's about all that's left.  I'll occasionally bounce my head but it's rare.  The kicking is required though.  I can't fall asleep comfortably without doing it.

I made a brief mention of my sleep habits on Total Punk Radio's message board back in 2000 or 2001.  In 2002 or so, a young kid named Jeff found me through a web search for head bouncing and leg kicking.  He's a young man now in his early 20's.

At the time we met online, he was worried that bouncing his head would make girls think he was weird.  I told him it hadn't really ever gotten in the way of any relationship for me.  People tend to accept the way you are if you don't worry about it.  If you're too accommodating, people burden you with their half hearted opinions.  It's best to give the impression that you're not going to change.

A friend and I were sharing a room in Vegas a few years ago and he warned me that because of a deviated septum, he had a loud snore.  I told him, "If you can sleep over the sound of me kicking the bed, I don't care how loud you snore."  And it worked out.  He stared at me when I started doing it because I think he thought it was a joke.  When he realized I wasn't kidding, he nodded off.  We shared a room on three or four different occasions and never talked about it again.

"Jactatio" is Latin for "shaking" but it can also mean "showing off".  More on that later.  "Capitis" is "head".  "Nocturna" is "night" or "sleep".  It kind of bugs me that the legs don't get mentioned.  To me, the kicking is the main thing.  I need to find a good Latin word for "legs" to describe my own brand of the condition.

Anyway, Jeff was comforted to find he wasn't alone and I was disappointed to find I wasn't unique.

I've thought about why it happens and I still don't have a good answer.  I saw a documentary once about Romanian orphans who get almost no attention throughout the day.  It's like a hospital full of babies with only a handful of nurses to tend to them all.  They get their diapers changed and they get fed but there's no time for any nurturing.  The babies never get held.  They sit in their cribs 24 hours a day without any idea of what it's like to feel affection or security.  As the camera panned from crib to crib, I noticed that a lot of the babies rocked themselves back and forth.  They would be on their knees in position to crawl but they would just sway back and forth.  Some bounced their heads but I don't remember seeing any of them kick.  Whatever they were doing was a lot like what I do.  But I wasn't neglected as a child.  If anything, I was doted upon.

Here's one flattering theory:  I developed the habit to mimic the sounds of my mother's womb.  The kicking or head bouncing is supposed to simulate a heartbeat.  I'm clinging stubbornly to my first and favorite sound.  I say this is flattering because I feel it's indicative of determination and independence.  If I can't have the real thing, I'll make my own.

The orphans, I feel, were doing something similar by mimicking the swaying motion a baby must feel in the womb.  They did it out of a lonely last resort though.

Back to "jactatio".  It also can mean "showing off".  Which is kind of like celebrating.  My other theory is that I do it because I can.  It's a little celebration of being alive, a little resistance to having to sleep for the night.  In time it becomes such a deep rooted habit that it doesn't need to have a reason.

My daughter, Sidney, will be a year old on January 23rd.  And so far, she's inherited the kicking.  She kicks hard and a lot faster than me because her legs are so much smaller.  She does it when she's getting sleepy and she does it till she nods off.  If she's disturbed during the night by noises coming from the television or the neighbors next door, she'll start kicking away semi-asleep until she calms herself enough to drift off again.

She's an inquisitive kid.  Long attention span and capable of rudimentary reasoning.  She's patient and deliberate.  Which has brought me to a third theory.  The kicking is a distraction from the wheels turning in her head.  Even on the verge of sleep, she'd rather be looking through a magazine or trying to figure out how to get into the trash can.  So, to help relax and stop thinking, she kicks.