Why is it that most of us struggle to sleep in a noisy environment but some people seem to be able to sleep through anything?
New research from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that the brains of people who can sleep through the night undisturbed are better wired to block out noise.
Whilst this may sound like a trivial finding, it could pave the way for new insomnia treatments – researchers found that those who consistently sleep through noise had higher sleep spindle rates. Sleep spindles block sensory information from being processed by the brain, allowing us to sleep undisturbed.
The key now is to figure out how to enhance sleep spindles for those who struggle to sleep in anything less than a completely silent environment. Fingers crossed we’ll see more sleep spindle research in the future.