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If you look at the brain of somebody about to zone out, 12 seconds before it happens, we see a specific brain signal. But, it's when their attention finally wanes that something spectacular happens to the brain. And it turns out that this brain activity while you're zoning out may not only be good for you, it might actually be essential for your brain health. Breakthrough research took a group of otherwise healthy people and first tracked their brain activity with EEGs and fMRI scans after having a normal amount of sleep. And then brought them into the lab overnight and kept them awake the entire time, followed by another day of brain scans to see what was going on after sleep deprivation. Obviously, they had more
lapses in attention or moments of zoning out when sleep deprived, but it's what scientists saw in the brain that was most surprising. Every time a person would zone out or lose attention, cerebrospinal fluid would flow out of the brain and then return 1 to 2 seconds later. And this would happen over and over every time the person zoned out. But, perhaps even more interesting is that this flushing is almost identical to something that happens in a very specific window of sleep. By now, you probably understand that every time you fall asleep, your brain runs through specific cycles. Your brain goes from light sleep to deep sleep to REM sleep where you dream. But, this deep sleep section is super important
for cleaning out your brain. Yes, literally cleaning it out. There's something called the glymphatic system, which is a disposal system for your brain. When you hit deep sleep, your brain cells actually shrink, and so the space between them grows larger, which allows cerebrospinal fluid to flow through more easily and flush out any waste. Why is there waste there even to begin with? Like, what is it? Well, besides the fact that scientists are finding more and more plastic in our brains than any other organ. That's a video for another day. Your brain breaks down all sorts of chemicals and proteins throughout the day that are totally normal and useful, but can create byproducts like beta amyloid and tau proteins that if not kept in check can
lead to long-term issues. For example, their accumulation is actually linked to Alzheimer's disease. So, the brain flushes fluid in and out of the brain during deep sleep in order to stop these from building up. Turns out, zoning out may actually be doing something very similar. If you don't sleep well or get enough deep sleep, these cerebrospinal fluid waves will hit you whether you want them to or not. And while they're happening, they come with an attention trade-off. You aren't able to focus or pay attention. It's almost like your brain is making the executive decision to catch up with a micro burst of deep sleep at the cost of your attention in the moment. This research helps defeat
the notion that zoning out might be some sort of lazy or low-energy brain activity, but instead it should be seen as a tightly orchestrated series of brain and body changes coupled with a system of fluid dynamics that has a real purpose. And while the fluid waves were the most pronounced effect seen 12 seconds before zoning out, the pupils would actually constrict. And the participants also showed slowed breathing and slowed heart rate during these moments. Ironically, while these lapses in attention can be super dangerous if paired with driving or other important activities, they're actually the brain's way of trying to take care of and protect itself from the negative impacts of sleep deprivation.
Now, most of the zoning out in this study was unintentional. The participants were just so tired that it was basically an irrepressible need for the brain. But, what about if you do it intentionally? Initially, research into this kind of mind wandering actually came back pretty negative. What they found is that when people or adults, rather, were daydreaming, they were more likely to be unhappy because their brain would naturally think about stressful or bring out their anxieties and worries. And you've probably heard about the studies where people were more likely to give themselves an electric shock than be sitting bored in a room for an extended period of time. A handful of
studies like these began to show that boredom and mind wandering can be associated with maladaptive or sadistic behavior. But, more recent research has found that if you are doing it with more intention as opposed to it just happening to you. Like, if you stop to take a break from something and decide you want to fantasize or have your mind wander, then the negative impacts aren't present and we start to see benefits. In particular, the default mode network in your brain gets more activated, which has a series of benefits. Research has found that creativity increases when there's more room for mind wandering. When you step away from a task that is challenging, your brain continues to work on it in
the background, and researchers call this the incubation effect. Ideas can get tossed around and random connections your brain wouldn't normally make with focused effort can be formed. And studies actually show that people who mind wander come up with more creative solutions to problems. Daydreaming has even been shown to help with something called autobiographical planning. The brain uses downtime to prepare and plan for future events and scenarios, and mentally rehearses reactions, which help us prepare for obstacles before they even happen. But, scientists even link mind wandering to the brain's way of finding meaning and purpose, working through bigger visions and goals, and literally understanding our sense of self. And all
of this is really important mental work that can't really be done if you're constantly engaging with your phone or other forms of mental stimulation, which I think is the real crux of the problem today. We live in a world where it's difficult to even experience 10 seconds of boredom or zoning out without immediately reaching for something to engage us, and so we so often don't even experience these benefits. The important thing with boredom in particular is to remember that it's a signal that isn't inherently good or bad. But, that signal usually means that whatever you seem to be doing in that particular moment doesn't seem meaningful. Now, waiting for the subway
doesn't need to feel meaningful. But, if you always pick up your phone to avoid that boredom, you're not only not addressing the underlying cause of meaning, but creating a strong feedback loop for every other time you feel bored. The need to reach for an immediate solution or for stimulation in the future becomes harder and harder to avoid. So, in the case of something like intentional daydreaming, you want to pick topics that feel meaningful to you because if you just picture walking down the street, that probably won't do much for your brain. And in the case of zoning out, simply knowing that it can be useful, that it can help clear out your brain, that it doesn't mean you're lazy, might be enough to make it more
meaningful in your life and give you some inspiration to try it. At the end of the day, I know this stuff is nearly impossible with phones. But, for me, simply learning that there are actually benefits has given me some motivation to zone out more or to try and carry around my phone a little less so I don't have such an easy out, and I think you should try it, too. Speaking of avoiding your phone and facing boredom, if you're looking for tips on how to actually accomplish this, like science-backed research on the best ways to be less addicted to your phone, our latest podcast episode covers this. We not only talk about our personal experience and addictions, but actually go through
research-backed techniques and tips on how to manage this relationship with our phones that we all seem to be struggling with. I'll link it here on screen and in the description below. Thanks so much for watching. Like, subscribe, and we'll see you ASAP for some more science. Peace.
