What Happens to Your Body When You Sleep in a New Place?

You are cordially invited for a weekend in the countryside with your friends. You are obviously delighted to take your breath of fresh air and curl up under a roof in the Dordogne. Unfortunately, you are not one of those people who sleep hard with their hosts. Not everyone is a victim of the phenomenon. This is generally true, but some sleep very well outside of their homes, admits the sleep doctor.

Are some souls doomed to stare at the ceiling all night? If there is no typical profile, people who are easily insomniac or anxious find it harder than others to find sleep outside their home, says the professional. Don't blame the bedding or the lack of curtains on the windows. The culprit could well be your brain.

Hyper Vigilance

The origin of your torment comes from the left hemisphere of your brain. This part captures the slightest change. The place, the bedding, or even the different smells disrupt the mechanics of sleep. The consequences are not long in coming. The left hemisphere is putting itself in hyper-vigilance. We then notice the slightest noise, and this is what prevents sleep. It is an archaic reflex, inherited from our ancestors when they were susceptible to being attacked by animals or by other men during the night, specifies the sleep doctor.

While you may be aware that spending a weekend in your friends' cozy chalet is unlikely to happen, your survival instincts prefer to keep an eye on the grain. This is increased when falling asleep and during the second part of the night, "these are the phases where rest is most fragile," comments the specialist.

A Not So Difficult Tomorrow

You need to know several information. First, fatigue does not appear the next day. The body is still on alert, so we're holding on, informs the professional. You will end up being tired, of course, but only the day after tomorrow. The consequences will be felt because the brain is no longer in hyper-vigilance.

Unfortunately, there aren't really any tips on how to make nights outdoors easier. You can simply take your personal pillow with you. This can perhaps reassure the brain. Without any guarantee of results, the doctor cautiously advances. Patiently dealing with your problems is, therefore, more or less the only thing to do. Relativizing can also be helpful. It is not a tragedy not to sleep well. The night may seem bad to us, but it remains restorative.

Transient Asymmetry

These images revealed an utterly unexpected fact. During the first night's sleep, both hemispheres of the brain show asymmetric activity. For reasons as yet unknown, the left side of the brain sleeps slightly less deeply than the right side. In addition, the left side is more responsive to sounds, external stimuli intentionally provoked by experimenters. These asymmetries are, however, transitory. They were only observed during the first night's sleep, but not for the following nights. Therefore, the poor quality of sleep is due to an overly vigilant cerebral hemisphere, on the lookout to react in the event of external threats?

While the body is sleeping, the brain is more active than previously believed. According to experts, sleep is not a global phenomenon. Each part of the brain sleeps at different thresholds and sometimes at other times. The work never stops. External information is always analyzed, even if the body's reactions are generally slower.

How Has Asymmetric Sleep Been Detected In Humans?

This discovery was made possible by the use of various advanced technologies that are not widely used. In addition to polysomnography, using electrodes, records several physiological variables, including respiratory and heart rate during sleep, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, the researchers used magnetoencephalography. The latter records the magnetic activity of neurons and allows better spatial localization of neuronal activity compared to the electroencephalogram usually used. All these techniques make it possible to know the intensity of sleep.

Now that you are aware of the phenomenon, two solutions are available to you: decline the weekends or wait until the second night of the stay. 

Are you unable to sleep in strange places on the first night? Do you roll back and forth restlessly on your well-deserved vacation instead of finally sleeping in? You are not alone in this. Researchers have now found out why many people sleep poorly in strange beds and can now explain the so-called "first-night effect" scientifically.

How the “First Night Effect” Can Be Explained

Sleep research has long known that the sleep structure changes significantly during the first night in a new sleeping environment. This phenomenon, which is referred to in English as the "first-night effect," is often associated with shorter sleep duration, more shallow sleep stages, more frequent waking up, and a lower recovery effect.

The authors of the new US study used various methods to investigate the nocturnal brain activities of 35 volunteers over a total of three experiments in order to track down this phenomenon. In the sleep laboratory, they were able to show that the left hemisphere of the brain remains vigilant while sleeping in a new environment. She responded to stimuli such as beeping noises in her right ear.

In this way, she becomes a night watchman, so to speak, while the right hemisphere is in a deep sleep. Such a one-hemisphere sleep has been known from marine animals, for example. The second night already shows that the quality of sleep is increasing. Such a difference between left and suitable brain activity as measured the first night

How to Escape the Restless Night

The fact that the first night effect has now also been scientifically proven does not mean that it has to be accepted without further ado. Instead, the new findings provide information on how restless sleep in someone else's bed can be prevented or at least reduced.

Adaptation to the usual sleeping environment can help. When traveling, for example, it is a good idea to take your own pillow with you simply. If you go on holiday in a holiday home and arrive by car, you might even find space for your own bed linen. A small scented pillow that has been washed with your own detergent gives off familiar smells. Frequent travelers or business travelers can trick the brain into booking hotels that are similar. Many hotel chains have identical furniture and similar room sizes in their hotels.

Conclusion: Treat sleeps disorders effectively

The new study on the "first night effect" is also of interest to sleep researchers with regard to other sleep disorders. It shows that the brain does not work homogeneously during the night and can possibly derive new treatment methods from this. The mindfulness of the brain is possibly also given in the case of persistent sleep disorders that can be traced back to overstimulation. Anyone who has a lot of stress or is in unusual life situations should therefore pay particular attention to their sleep behavior.

A regular routine before bed and going to bed every evening simultaneously helps the brain get into sleep mode. However, if you still cannot calm down, you should by no means force yourself to stay in bed. Relaxation techniques help here, like progressive muscle relaxation or autogenic training to release physical and mental tension. Courses for this can be found in every city and are offered by adult education centers, physiotherapists, or fitness studios by trained therapists.

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