Sleepy feeling ''due to sleeping brain''
10/11/2008
Parts of the brain are falling asleep independently when a person is feeling tired, new research has asserted.
A theoretical paper carried out by scientists based at Washington State University said that brains were not subject to any form of control centre, instead allowing sleep to slowly take over different areas and cells gradually switching off.
James Krueger, the lead author of the research, said that it also worked the other way when a person woke up, with the brain taking time to fully exit sleep mode.
This "sleep inertia", he added, could affect one''s ability to do even simple tasks, regardless of being awake "in a general sense".
"Everybody has sleep inertia every morning. It takes 30 minutes to an hour to recuperate from being asleep," Mr Krueger added.
Health advice specialist Sleepdex said that sleep inertia could last anywhere between one minute and four hours, with the typical period of grogginess lasting between 15 and 30 minutes.
