Outside noises are blocked by spindles in brain while sleeping

It is astonishing to see someone napping on a noisy airport when you can’t get even w few minutes of rest. A new study explains why some people can sleep through all the noises.

The study published in Tuesday’s edition of the journal Current Biology states that the reason why some individuals don’t get disturbed by outside noise during sleep is because their brain seems to produce more sleep spindles than others.

During sleeping hours, the thalamus- the part of the brain which receives sensory input like sounds- tries to relay information to the cortex, where the sounds are actually perceived. These transmissions can be seen by sleep experts in a electroencephalography test (EEG).

It is believed, however, that the brain sometimes throws up roadblocks to prevent the cortex from being disturbed during crucial periods of sleep when memories are organized and stored. These obstacles are sleep spindles, which also have a typical appearance on the EEG machine.