There's a reason sleeping in an unfamiliar bed often means not sleeping at all - This phenomenon is called the "first-night effect," and it's when only half your brain goes into rest mode in an unfamiliar setting, according to a new study.
To find out why this is, researchers studied the brain scans of 35 Brown University students who hit the hay in the unfamiliar surroundings of a sleep lab.
The brain scans showed patterns of slow-wave activity, which is associated with deep sleep, in the right side of the brain, as if the left were staying awake to be on guard. The left side is better connected than the right to certain parts of the brain, which could be helpful for "faster responses to risk factors," according to the study.
The finding, reported in the journal Current Biology, helps explain why people tend to feel tired after sleeping in a new place. And it suggests people have something in common with birds and sea mammals, which frequently put half their brain to sleep while the other half remains on guard.
Study:http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30174-9
Source:http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/21/474691141/half-your-brain-stands-guard-when-sleeping-in-a-new-place
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