Institute: Why can your brain sleep without knowing?

People with insomnia will often tell you that they haven't slept, even after you heard them snoring. Recent research confirms their experience and explains why this phenomenon occurs. The findings are published in Sleep magazine.

People with insomnia can sometimes feel they're smart even if they're sleeping.

Scientists have identified the phenomenon, but even though they haven't fully understood it, they have labeled it a “misperception of sleep”. The new research has found an explanation for it.

According to research director Daniel Kay a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University in Proving, UT, the reason why scientists don't have an explanation for this phenomenon is that traditionally, sleep is understood as a classic experience: you are or are not asleep, and when you're asleep, you can't be aware. But Kay doesn't think that's necessarily true.

I think you can be aware and your brain can be on a sleep pattern. The question is, what is the role of consciousness in our sleep definition?”, he said.

Brain areas of conscience are key

To answer this intriguing question, Kay and the team analyzed sleep patterns and experiences of 32 insomniac and those of 30 participants who did not.

The study found that insomnian people who reported waking up even when polysomnography indicated otherwise had increased activity in brain areas associated with consciousness during the endless stage of sleep - the slow movement of eye movement.

Those sleeping well, on the other hand, who reportedly slept long before the polysomnography recorded as such, had also increased brain activity in the same area.

Misperception of Sleep

According to Daniel Kay, those with insomnia and those who normally sleep can go through a containment process when they fall asleep. As the team explains, it is normal during the process of falling asleep for the brain to send containive neurons that make people less aware of how deep they can sleep.

However, findings in the new study suggest that insomnian people cannot feel as if they were asleep until their brains experience greater control activity in areas related to consciousness.