Revealed – Why you can't sleep in a new place!

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Wonder, why most of us have this common problem – struggling to fall asleep when we're sleeping in a new place/bed?

Now, researchers have a better understanding to this common trend that often makes people feel fuddled afterwards.

As per a study published in the journal Current Biology, it's likely that half of our brain remains alert and acts as a 'night watch to monitor unfamiliar surroundings during sleep'.

In order to determine why this so called general phenomenon, 'first-night effect' happens, researchers at Brown University analyzed the brains of 35 healthy people during two nights of sleep which were a week apart.

They found that one of the hemispheres - the left side of the brain - consistently showed more wakefulness, compared to the right side. The left hemisphere was also more sensitive to strange sounds, and thus potentially threatening.

However, the team, who only studied early sleep phases, are still unsure as to whether the left side of the brain stays alert throughout the entire first night, or switches to give the right side a go.