What it is:
Ask two different people about their experiences sleeping away from home, and you might find polar opposite responses. One may report drifting off within seconds and sleeping right through the night, while the other may describe many hours spent tossing and turning. Multiple factors influence which camp you fall into, from how you were raised to your current home environment. This article will explain why travel-sleep comes easy to some and is challenging for others. By identifying your travel-sleep type, you can begin exploring techniques to promote better rest while away from home.
The purported claims:
A stressful sleep environment can take many forms. For some, being at home is too much pressure. For others, a new environment when traveling can feel unsafe.
Either may lead to restless sleep or insomnia.
What the science says:
A sleeping person is inherently vulnerable. And the deeper we sink into sleep, the more vulnerable we become. During light, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, disturbances in our surroundings wake us much more easily than when we are in deep sleep. During deep, or “slow wave” sleep, the brain increases the threshold at which those external cues can break through. This is because deep sleep plays an important role in regenerating our cells and repairing damage. The brain seeks to protect it from being disrupted.
Sleep places us in a vulnerable state where we cannot defend ourselves from attack. Therefore, in an unfamiliar environment, it makes sense that we may not feel safe enough to rest. A lack of security may be the root of an occasional sleepless night for various reasons, such as a fight with a partner, a financial loss, or a health concern. Any of these may be interpreted as a threat, leading to disrupted sleep. Even if we don’t initially make the connection between whatever happened (or fear about what might happen) and personal safety, from an evolutionary standpoint, our brain’s wiring interprets it that way. While we live in modern times, our brains are still those of humans who lived thousands of years ago. It’s no coincidence that mental health issues are so common today: humans the world over are trying to juggle more than our minds can realistically handle.
When the new environment feels safer
The first type of travel sleeper sometimes, or oftentimes, struggles to sleep at home. In contrast, they find themselves blissfully rested and relaxed when they venture to a hotel. For this person, elements of the home environment feel unsafe. There may be an association with work or problematic family dynamics. For some people, the former manifested during or shortly after the pandemic when there was a mass migration to the “home office,” which — for many — wasn’t an office at all, but rather a laptop dragged to the dining table or bedroom while simultaneously trying to wrangle children, pets, or other obligations in the home. This kind of work behavior — particularly if combined with high stress levels — can blur the line between “on” and “off,” thus creating a permanent in-between state where we must remain vigilant. This can exhaust our nervous system and contribute to sleep loss.
For others who find that they sleep better in a hotel, there is a more obvious threat to safety in the home. Being responsible for the family's security or even a previous home invasion can shake up our sense of safety and security, leaving us feeling as though we need to keep one eye awake for future incidents and protect our loved ones. Simply interacting with too many fear-inducing news stories can be enough to evoke this response, even in the absence of any evidence of a threat.
For those who struggle to feel safe enough to sleep at home, a hotel can be a sanctuary. The presence of other people can provide a sense of security for those who live alone. The knowledge of sleeping behind a securely locked door, away from the street, can be comforting. The combination of a novel environment and a different routine can signal a 'vacation' to the mind, triggering much-needed rest.
When the new environment disrupts sleep
Some people rely heavily upon a routine they feel can only be achieved at home, such as bedtime accessories like a cooling mattress topper or other items that cannot be transported in a suitcase. Another challenge one might face is leaving family at home, particularly if there are difficulties that are tough to sort out when away.
In other instances, the new sleep environment feels unsafe due to the general circumstances or unfamiliar space. It is especially prevalent for those conditioned to be hyper-vigilant. Several studies have shown that a lack of perceived neighborhood safety is associated with insomnia symptoms. This is true for children as well as adults. Among adolescents, a lack of school safety can also contribute to insomnia. Moreover, adverse childhood experiences can lead to a state of hyperarousal in adulthood. This means that even if the current environment is actually safe, we may be more likely to worry anyway due to having experienced a lack of safety in the past.
Some amount of vigilance during the first night while sleeping in a new place is quite normal for most people. This is termed the “first night effect” and is often observed during sleep research studies when people spend the night in an unusual environment, such as a sleep lab. The first-night effect is typically characterized by more fragmented, shallower sleep. This means that we might be more likely to have several awakenings during the night, get less deep sleep, and feel less well-rested in the morning following the first night in a new place.
Many animals can engage in unihemispheric sleep, meaning that half of their brains sleep while the other half (and associated eyeball) keeps watch for predators. Birds on long migratory routes, seals, and dolphins are just some animals who benefit from this remarkable ability to rest safely. It turns out that humans also do this when sleeping in a new environment. Some researchers have measured this in participants in the lab using electroencephalography (EEG). Interestingly, the left side of the brain (connected to the right eyeball and right ear) remains vigilant on that first night in a new place. The right side of the brain is more likely to experience deep sleep and seems to be more protected against noise disturbances.
What’s interesting about this is that the right side of the brain is responsible for spatially-directed attention. In other words, being able to take in our surroundings, which is a conundrum in terms of threat detection, given that the left side of the brain stays awake instead. Other researchers have shown that different areas of the brain can simultaneously experience different sleep states. Given that EEG measures only the outer part of the brain (the cortex), much of sleep in deeper parts of the brain remains a mystery, and more research needs to be done to understand the nuances of these different stages in humans.
Our take:
Whatever the reason for travel, be it business, a vacation, an important celebration, or something more challenging, we generally want to feel our best while away. Usually, we have at least some mild circadian disruption to overcome when we travel across multiple time zones. Sometimes, this can be severe, particularly if we haven’t had time to prepare ourselves. The best way to thrive in the local environment is to get on the local schedule as quickly as possible, and a large part of that is sleeping at the appropriate time. By understanding our needs when we’re on the move and sleeping in a different place, we can more quickly train ourselves to relax and settle into rest when the opportunity presents itself. We might also compare our ability to sleep while traveling with the home environment in order to make positive changes to our sleep at home.
Will this benefit me?
If you sleep better when you’re away from home, consider how you might create a more restorative environment at home that is conducive to regular rest. For some, this can come from containing work to a designated office or desk. This will allow you to associate the other parts of your home with things that are not working, which may decrease stress levels. If you suspect you might have a conditioned wakefulness response associated with the bed, check out our articles on insomnia and sleep hygiene, or seek out a behavioral sleep medicine specialist.
If you tend to struggle with sleep when you’re traveling, bring a few small comforting items with you, such as an eye mask, earplugs, a small dimmable travel light to avoid poor hotel lighting, a portable sound machine, essential oils, or other items that give you greater control of your environment and facilitate relaxation.
Still curious to try it? In case you do, here’s what to keep an eye on:
Whatever your sleep patterns when you’re away from home, try not to judge yourself for being a “bad sleeper,” either while traveling or once you get home. Remember: it’s all data. That is, the more you pay attention to how you’re feeling and any potential problem areas that arise, the better the chance you have of addressing them. If you can’t sleep in a new, unfamiliar place, thank your brain for simply trying to keep you safe and practice another form of non-sleep deep rest instead.
References and additional materials:
How has the human brain evolved over time? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-has-human-brain-evolved/
Is our brain built for the modern world? https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/feel-first-think-second-is-our-brain-really-cut-out-for-the-modern-world/
Neighborhood safety and sleep - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25616390/
Environment and school safety and sleep - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30241657/
Adverse childhood experiences and adult insomnia - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36875235/
First night effect - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35203996/
Unihemispheric sleep - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27166693/
Simultaneous sleep states - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36279474/
Non-sleep deep rest - https://www.sleepfoundation.org/meditation-for-sleep/what-is-non-sleep-deep-rest
Huberman non-sleep deep rest - https://www.hubermanlab.com/topics/nsdr-meditation-and-breathwork
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