Brain Scans Reveal Surprising 'Tipping Point' Minutes Before We Fall Asleep

We really do 'fall' asleep, a new study shows. Far from gently drifting off , the brain rapidly transitions into sleep after passing a tipping point.

Using brain scans taken from thousands of volunteers, researchers from Imperial College London (ICL) and the University of Surrey in the UK discovered a surprisingly sudden change in electrical activity around 4.5 minutes before the onset of sleep.

"We discovered that falling asleep is a bifurcation , not a gradual process, with a clear tipping point that can be predicted in real time," says ICL neuroscientist Nir Grossman.

"The ability to track how individual brains fall asleep has profound implications for our understanding of the sleep process and for developing new treatments for people who struggle with falling asleep."

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