When a person becomes bored and has nothing to do, he wants to sleep. Despite the fact that mankind has suffered from boredom since ancient times, scientists have only recently managed to build a hypothesis that explains this behavior.
Where does boredom come from?
This feeling appears when a person does monotonous work, listens to an uninteresting speech or does other things that he does not want to do. Then his motility slows down, his attention is scattered, it is difficult for him to perceive the information, and he also wants to sleep.
The brain artificially creates such symptoms in the body. Scientists have not yet determined exactly why he reacts in this way to such a situation.
There is an assumption that this is a kind of protective organism. When a person finds himself in an unfriendly environment, to which he has no interest, the brain tends to fall asleep and get rid of it as soon as possible.
During the research, it was possible to establish a funny fact. If a person is artificially bored, in addition to the above symptoms, aggression, anger and irritability will appear. Why is this so - scientists are not yet ready to answer.
Why do you want to sleep?
Two years ago, Japanese scientists managed to find the most likely cause of drowsiness during boredom. Interestingly, the experiments were carried out only on mice, but researchers assure that with a high degree of probability the data obtained are also applicable to human physiology.
There is an area in the brain called the nucleus accumbens. These cells are responsible for the motivation, pleasure and desire of a person to do something. As soon as interest in what is happening, for example, you have to engage in monotonous work, the core abruptly removes motivational sensations. As a result, a person becomes bored.
Why do you feel sleepy during boredom?
The answer to this question is based solely on assumptions. It has been proven that the nucleus accumbens causes a feeling of joy and motivation. However, it provokes them only in a comfortable setting. Now, scientists believe that in opposite conditions it can generate negative feelings, which include symptoms of boredom, including drowsiness.
These are the results shown by studies of the behavior of mice. Since the structure of rodents in their structure and DNA resembles that of humans, it can be assumed that in humans the nucleus accumbens during boredom makes them fall asleep.
Interesting fact: On observation, you may notice drowsiness in dogs and cats.
If a person became so bored that he fell asleep, this condition is called a slow sleep. In it, the body still functions and is capable of performing primitive functions, for example, sitting, listening and perceiving direct speech. At this point, activity in the brain decreases, but only to a certain level, so that, if necessary, a person can wake up sharply and adapt to his environment.
So the brain warns against possible troubles.Most likely, this feature appeared during the evolutionary process and is present in most animals on the planet.
The desire to sleep is the main symptom that appears during boredom. The person feels tired and suffers from drowsiness due to the adjacent nucleus located in the brain. In such an environment, it does not supply the body with positive emotions, but rather provokes faster sleep.
