Why We Can't Sleep Away From Home

-Alexandra Metzler

 Can’t sleep away from home? Don't blame your pillows or the sheets.

Blame your own hyper-vigilant brain.

It appears half of our brain may remain alert when you sleep in a new location, at least on that first night you are away from home, according to a new study published in the latest edition of Current Biology.

Scientists have long known that results from the first night of most sleep experiments are usually a bit off. There's even a science-y name for this called "first-night effect" or FNE. The FNE results are so atypical, some researchers will toss them out. Wanting to understand why this happened, scientists at Brown University devised an unusual experiment.

Scientists figured this out by watching a small group of people sleep in a lab and playing quite sounds by their ears. Scientists wired people up to brain-monitoring equipment and played quiet and infrequent beeps by each ear of the sleeper. Researchers found that on that first night of the experiment, the beeping on the left side of the brain reacted strongly to the sound, compared to the right side. The left side is related to thinking needed for a kind of vigilance. Noises played on the left side more often woke people up. On the second night of the experiment the night watchman camped out in the left side of their brain seemed to be asleep on the job. Both brain hemispheres responded at the same level and the beeps woke fewer people up.

What that suggests is that humans may be a bit bird-brained.

Birds can actually switch off half their brain when they sleep. By literally keeping one eye open, that eye sends information to the side of their brain that corresponds with it while awake. This means that while still asleep, the awake side of the brain can make decisions to fly or fight and help protect them from a hungry cat or an aggressive hawk.

Birds can even rotate which side of their brain stays awake depending on where they are sleeping. Like birds, our brains have two hemispheres, but when we see something, our eyes send that information to both side of the brain. Our brains are joined together by a tiny bundle of nerves, unlike birds. Something about that unfamiliar environment must be keeping that left side of our brain awake, even though when we don't sleep with one eye open.

So what can you do if you need to be alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic for an early meeting after trying to sleep that first night on the road?

"Well, you might be able to reduce first-night effect, but we are not really sure if you can remove the effect completely," said Masako Tamaki,  a research associate at Brown University and is a co-author on the study.

"There can be a lot more anxiety around sleeping away from home and that can make it more difficult to sleep," said Dr. Muhammad Najjar, a neurology specialist in sleep medicine with Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Illinois. Often when people travel for work they already have an elevated amount of stress.

"That certainly will effect sleep quality, too."

There are a couple of tricks that may help.

A warm shower right before bed can also help. Keep your room cool, though. Your body rests better at about 65 degrees.

Bring your own pillow with you. The familiar feel of your favorite pillow may trick your brain into thinking you are at home.

Find a hotel with rooms that look like your own bedroom. Staying at a friend's futon may be a little trickier, but a sleep mask to block out the light or earplugs to keep things quiet may help. You can download smartphone apps that can generate white noise or other calming sounds such as ocean waves.