Understanding Microsleep — When Our Minds Are Both Asleep and Awake

Understanding Microsleep — When Our Minds Are Both Asleep and Awake

Megan Schmidt

Have you ever spaced out during a meeting, but been jolted back to reality by the sound of your boss calling your name a few times? If you’ve ever been in this awkward situation, you might have experienced “microsleep.”

This weird state of consciousness is characterized by brief bursts of sleep that happen while a person is awake — often while their eyes are open and they’re either sitting upright, or even performing a task. During microsleep, parts of the brain go offline for a few seconds while the rest of the brain stays awake. It’s sort of like being a zombie for a few brief moments — sans the whole “eating human flesh” part. And usually, people don’t realize it’s happening to them.

Researchers don’t fully understand why certain parts of our brain switch off throughout the day. But they have found the states of sleep and wakefulness aren’t as cut and dry as we might assume. And although fatigue does seem to prime the brain for microsleep, even well-rested people do it — a lot.