Why do you sleep worse in a new place? The first-night effect
Why do you sleep worse in a new place? Researchers call it the first-night effect. This Short explains, in about twenty seconds, what one 2016 study found: part of the brain seems to keep watch on the first night.
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Made with AI. Parts of this video are AI-generated (see “How this was made” below).
What it says
Sleep scientists have long noticed that people sleep worse on their first night in a lab, a hotel or anywhere unfamiliar. In a 2016 study, researchers found that on the first night, the left side of the brain slept more lightly during deep sleep than the right. That side also reacted more to unusual sounds, and people woke faster when those sounds were played. By the second night, the difference was gone. The researchers described it as a kind of night watch, which is where the Short’s last line, “Part of your brain was keeping watch”, comes from.
Sleeping better away from home
A few things can make a strange room feel more familiar: your own pillow or pillowcase, the same wind-down routine you use at home, and a steady sound you already sleep to, so sudden noises in the corridor stand out less. Our cabin window rain or white noise work well on a laptop or phone across a hotel room. If a trip has left you short of sleep, the sleep debt calculator helps you see how much you are behind.
This is general sleep education, not medical advice.
About these Shorts
Our Sleep Questions Shorts take one thing people wonder about at night and answer it plainly, with the source listed below. The study was small and done in a sleep lab, so the Short keeps to what it actually found. The pictures are AI-made paper collages and the voice is an AI voice reading our script.
Transcript
The narration, as spoken:
Why do you sleep worse in a new place?
Researchers call it the first-night effect.
In a 2016 study, the left side of the brain slept more lightly during deep sleep on the first night.
It reacted more to unusual sounds and woke people faster.
By night two, the difference was gone.
Part of your brain was keeping watch.
How this was made
The narration is an AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs premade voice “Matilda”, not a clone of any real person), reading an original script written by SleepBetter. The paper-collage pictures are AI-generated still images (Higgsfield). Text and editing by SleepBetter.
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Sleep videos and guided relaxation are for general wellness, not medical advice. If poor sleep is affecting your days, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist.