Why Can’t I Sleep in Hotels? Understanding the First Night Away

You arrive at a hotel exhausted, draw the curtains, and climb into a comfortable bed. Then, unexpectedly, you struggle to fall asleep. Every corridor sound seems noticeable, and the night feels less restful than it should.

Sleep research offers one explanation: the first-night effect, a pattern of disrupted sleep during an initial night of sleep recording. It helps explain why settling somewhere new can take time, although hotel sleep can also be affected by the room itself, changes in routine, and jet lag.[1,2,3]

What is the first-night effect?

A 2022 meta-analysis of 53 studies, involving 1,422 healthy participants, found that people generally took longer to fall asleep and spent more time awake during the first recording night than the second. Total sleep time and sleep efficiency—the proportion of time in bed spent asleep—were also lower.[1]

Sleep stages changed too: participants spent more time in the lightest stage and less in rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. However, the analysis did not find a significant overall reduction in the deepest non-REM stage. A restless first night does not necessarily mean you have missed out on all deep sleep.[1]

These findings come from monitored sleep studies, rather than a representative survey of hotel guests. They establish a measurable adaptation effect, but do not tell us how many travellers experience it or precisely how much sleep a particular hotel stay will cost.[1]

Is your brain still checking the surroundings?

A widely discussed 2016 study proposed that the brain may remain more responsive to unfamiliar surroundings during sleep. Researchers found that a particular network in the left hemisphere showed less slow-wave activity than its counterpart on the right during deep sleep on the first experimental night. That suggested relatively lighter sleep in the region.[4]

The less deeply sleeping side also responded more strongly to unusual sounds. The researchers interpreted these findings as a possible form of nighttime vigilance: a system that could help a sleeper detect unexpected events.[4]

The popular description that “half your brain stays awake” goes too far. Participants were asleep, and the differences were regional. The study also examined the first slow-wave sleep episode, so it could not establish whether the same pattern continued all night. A protective “night watch” remains an interpretation of the evidence, rather than a complete explanation of hotel sleeplessness.[4,5]

An unfamiliar room is only part of the picture

Later research has added an important qualification. A 2024 paper reported first-night disturbances during sleep recordings both in a laboratory and at home. It also found that differences in slow-wave sleep between hemispheres were not correlated with the first-night effect.[2]

These results suggest that familiarity with the room does not explain everything. The experience of being monitored may itself be relevant, and laboratory findings cannot be transferred directly to every hotel stay. The authors’ findings support a more complex account than a single brain mechanism responding to a strange bed.[2]

For a hotel guest, this means the first-night effect is a useful possibility, rather than a diagnosis. It is still worth asking straightforward questions: Is the room too warm? Is light coming through the curtains? Are you attempting sleep at a different time from usual? Those conditions are relevant to sleep wherever you are staying.[6]

Why being tired may not be enough

After travel across time zones, bedtime on the hotel clock may not match bedtime for your body. Jet lag reflects a temporary mismatch between the internal biological clock and local time, and can cause difficulty sleeping as well as daytime sleepiness. It is distinct from first-night adaptation, although both may occur on the same trip.[2,3]

Your recent schedule may also play a role. In a small study of 24 healthy young men, more irregular sleep timing during the previous week was associated with lower sleep efficiency on the first laboratory night. The finding does not prove that maintaining a schedule prevents hotel sleep problems, but it suggests that the days before arrival deserve consideration too.[7]

Travel habits can introduce further obstacles. Caffeine can interfere with sleep, while alcohol may help someone fall asleep initially but make sleep more fragmented later. Neither exhaustion nor a comfortable mattress necessarily offsets these influences.[3,6]

How to make a hotel night easier

The most defensible approach is to remove avoidable disruptions and preserve helpful habits. These steps draw mainly on general sleep guidance; they are not proven ways to switch off the first-night effect.

Prepare the room before you settle down. Aim for a cool, quiet, dark space. Adjust the temperature and curtains, silence unnecessary alerts, and address obvious noise problems where possible. These are practical applications of established sleep-environment advice.[6]

Bring a simple routine, rather than a demand for perfect sleep. Reading, a warm bath, or a relaxation exercise can form part of a wind-down period. Choose something manageable away from home, without treating it as a guarantee that sleep will follow immediately.[8]

Keep timing in mind. For travel within your usual time zone, try to retain a consistent sleep schedule. When crossing time zones, adjusting sleep timing and using light at appropriate times can help circadian adaptation. The right timing depends on the journey, so generic advice to “get morning sunlight” does not fit every itinerary.[3,6]

Take a break from prolonged wakefulness in bed. Insomnia treatment guidance includes getting out of bed if unable to sleep and returning when sleepy. A quiet activity in dim light is a practical way to apply that principle.[8]

What if the next night is difficult too?

Sleep often improves after the initial recording night, but that group-level pattern is not a deadline for individual travellers.[1] If difficulties persist, recur at home, or affect daytime functioning, consider discussing them with a healthcare professional. A sleep diary can help identify patterns involving timing, awakenings, and daytime sleepiness.[9]

An unsettled hotel night is a reason to make the conditions more comfortable—not a test you need to pass. Give yourself a workable routine and realistic expectations, then allow the experience to unfold without assuming one difficult night predicts the rest of the stay.

References

1. Ding L, Chen B, Dai Y, Li Y. (2022). A meta-analysis of the first-night effect in healthy individuals for the full age spectrum. Sleep Medicine, 89, 159–165. Study.
2. Wick AZ, Combertaldi SL, Rasch B. (2024). The first-night effect of sleep occurs over nonconsecutive nights in unfamiliar and familiar environments. Sleep, 47, zsae179. Study.
3. Riedy SM, Williams SG. (2025). Jet Lag Disorder. CDC Yellow Book, 2026 edition. Guidance.
4. Tamaki M, Bang JW, Watanabe T, Sasaki Y. (2016). Night Watch in One Brain Hemisphere during Sleep Associated with the First-Night Effect in Humans. Current Biology. Study.
5. Brown University. (2016). Asleep somewhere new, one brain hemisphere keeps watch. Research report and limitations.
6. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Healthy Sleep Habits. Guidance.
7. Lee DH, et al. (2016). Sleep Irregularity in the Previous Week Influences the First-Night Effect in Polysomnographic Studies. Psychiatry Investigation, 13, 203–209. Study.
8. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Insomnia: Treatment. Guidance.
9. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Insomnia: Diagnosis. Guidance.