Some people can sleep through a bomb blast or a stabbing.  I am one of them.  Every night, I set five alarms at staggered intervals:  5 AM, 5:25 AM, 5:35 AM, 6:15 AM, and a last-ditch 7 AM alarm just in case.  I will routinely sleep through the 5 AM alarm clock, but get up before the 5:25 alarm clock.  That’s just how I’m wired; TV on, lights on, noise in the background… none of that stops me from falling asleep, and thanks to a Harvard Medical School study, I know why.  People who are deep sleepers have brains that are wired differently than light sleepers.

The study, published in Current Biology this month, says that deep sleepers have a thalamus that produces more sleep spindles.  (The thalamus is the area of the brain that regulates sleep and blocks out sensory influences that would disturb sleep.)  “The more sleep spindles your brain produces, the more likely you’ll stay asleep, even when confronted by noise,” says study author Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen.  That means, when the phone rings, I stay asleep.  Meanwhile, my father is awake at the slightest disturbance.

Tags: thalamus, Current Biology, Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, Harvard Medical School, unusual medical news, sleep science, sleep study determines why some people are deep sleepers, deep sleepers versus light sleepers, sleep spindles, weird science

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