An Alternate Travel Hack
“If the curtains don’t fully block the light, you don’t need to do this, so the real hack is to make sure there is some sliver of light somewhere to help you recall where you are,” he added. “Even then I still awoke every once in a while wondering what city I was in, but it turns out that just a few orienting clues in the sliver of light were all I needed to recall.”
Sleep Disorientation
Although sleep disorientation isn’t an official medical term, Very Well Health describes something similar, confusional arousal. Around 20% of adults and children experience some form of confusional arousal, which often happens during the transition from the deepest stage of sleep, to waking up. The cause is thought to be related to brain function because “different regions of the brain fail to fully communicate with each other,” according to VWH. “As a result, some parts of the sleeper’s brain stay asleep while others suddenly awake.”
Recognizing Sleep Disorientation
Symptoms include:
- Confusion or disorientation.
- Aggression
- Staring off into space without saying anything.
- Appearing to be “looking through you”
- Confused or slurred speech
While seemingly terrifying, confusional arousal comes in short episodes, around 10 minutes, explains VWH.
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