Dream Slips

I woke from a very short sleep the other day with an involuntary start. My brain translated this as me slipping on ice in a dream, yet the dream I was having didn't involve me walking on ice - the slip suddenly materialised in my head. 

Was it the start that caused the image in my mind, or was I indeed dreaming of walking on ice and slipped, causing the start - chicken or egg?

According to sleep experts, it's called a hypnic jerk and occurs as you're falling asleep and means absolutely bugger all, despite the army of dream cranks interpreting it in a myriad different ways.

One scientific hypothesis posits that the hypnic jerk is a form of reflex initiated in response to normal bodily events during the lead-up to the first stages of sleep, including a decrease in blood pressure and the relaxation of muscle tissue. Another theory postulates that the body mistakes the sense of relaxation that is felt when falling asleep as a sign that the body is falling. As a consequence, it causes a jerk to wake the sleeper up so they can catch themselves.

My opinion, and it's merely an opinion, is that my body jerked and my brain filled in the gap, conjuring up an image of me slipping so as to rationalise the jerk. The brain is very good at filling gaps and colouring in what's not actually there.