sleep-deprived, your brain is literally asleep while standing up

When you're sleep-deprived, your brain literally sleeps standing up.

October 30, 2025

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By Camille Gaubert THE Reading 5 min. Subscribers

The drops in attention observed when we lack sleep are linked to fluid flow cerebrospinal fluid A publication reveals the movement of the brain towards and away from the brain normally observed during sleep. This phenomenon is accompanied by overall signs of an organism temporarily put into rest.

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1 in 5 French people sleep less than 6 hours per night

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One in five French people sleeps less than six hours a night during the week, and it is estimated that more than 30% of children and up to 70% of adolescents are sleep-deprived, according to an interministerial roadmap of July 22, 2025.

Photo by CAIA IMAGE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / NEW / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY VIA AFP

“ I sleep standing up"The popular saying could almost be taken literally," concludes a scientific publication in Nature NeuroscienceBy examining the brains of sleep-deprived subjects, researchers discovered processes similar to those found during one of the phases of non-REM sleep.

“ I was fascinated to discover that the times when our attention falters after a lack of sleep correspond to times of generalized fluid flow in the brain", comments to Science and Future Laura Lewis, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) who led this new research.

Deep sleep Rest Fatigue

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