Why Do We Fall Sleep When We Are Bored?
Psych 🧠- 269/300
Hey Reader,
Have you ever wondered why you might be feeling sleepy or dreadul in all the spare time you have?
No. Don’t blame it on winters!
What is it?
This study in Nature Communications shows that a part of the brain linked to feeling good and motivation, called the nucleus accumbens, can also make us sleepy.
This might explain why we tend to doze off when we're not interested in anything.
Scientists from the University of Tsukuba and Fudan University used special techniques to control these brain cells in mice. They found that these cells can make the mice fall into a sleep that looks a lot like our normal deep sleep.
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What do I need to know?
The leader of the study, Yo Oishi, thinks a substance called adenosine might be behind this sleep effect in the nucleus accumbens.
Adenosine is known to make us feel tired and trigger sleep when it connects with certain parts of our brain. The nucleus accumbens has a lot of these parts. Interestingly, caffeine, which keeps us awake, works by blocking these parts in the nucleus accumbens.
If we find ways to activate these parts in the nucleus accumbens safely, it might help treat insomnia, a common sleep issue that affects a lot of people.
Sources:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170929093400.htm
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00781-4
I think boredom brings a sense of frustration with myself. After all it is a result of inaction. That inactivity makes me more insecure which in turn leads to verbal discord with anyone close to me. In a way the moment I am bored I become hyper aware of it which of course leads me into overthinking.
I rather pick a fight with a close one when I am bored. Sleep mostly deprives me under any and every circumstance.