How Half Our Brain Keeps Watch When We Sleep In Unfamiliar Places

The Brain





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One part of our brain keeps a lookout when we sleep in a new environment. Duy Nguyen/Flickr, CC BY

Have you ever arrived in a hotel room after a long flight and, despite being exhausted, found it painfully difficult to fall asleep? And even once you managed to get to sleep, did you still wake frequently in the night, or too early in the morning, feeling groggy and desperate?

Researchers have long known about this phenomenon in an experimental setting, terming it the “first-night effect”. Sleep study participants often sleep poorly during their first experimental session in a new environment and sleep quality usually improves dramatically on the second night.