The first-night effect: why you sleep badly in a new place

The first-night effect is the poorer sleep most people get on their first night in a new sleeping situation. You take longer to drift off, wake more often and get less sleep overall, and then it mostly fades by night two. It was first noticed in sleep labs, and research now suggests part of the brain stays on guard in an unfamiliar room. Here's what the studies show and what you can do about it on a trip.

What is the first-night effect?

The first-night effect is a measurable dip in sleep quality on the first night of a new sleeping arrangement. It's well known in sleep research, and it's often given as the reason many lab studies include an adaptation night before the nights they count.

The best summary of the research is a 2022 meta-analysis in Sleep Medicine. It pooled 53 studies with 1,422 healthy people, with average ages ranging from about 9 to 85, all recorded with polysomnography for at least two nights in a row. Compared with night two, the first night had:

• A longer time to fall asleep
• More time awake after first falling asleep
• A longer wait before the first REM sleep
• Less total sleep and lower sleep efficiency
• Less REM sleep and more of the lightest stage of sleep, N1

Deep slow-wave sleep and stage N2 weren't significantly different. Neither were the apnea-hypopnea index, the main measure of sleep apnea, or periodic limb movements. Between nights two and three, most measures were similar.

Why does your brain sleep lighter in a new place?

Your brain may sleep lighter in a new place because one side of it is keeping watch. A 2016 study in Current Biology by researchers at Brown University measured sleep depth in each hemisphere on two sessions about a week apart. On the first session, part of the left hemisphere, within a network called the default-mode network, slept less deeply than the matching part on the right. The bigger that gap, the longer people took to fall asleep.

The team then played rare, unusual tones among regular ones while people slept. On the first session, the less deeply sleeping left hemisphere reacted more strongly to the unusual tones, and those tones were more likely to cause arousals and faster wake-ups. None of these differences showed up in later sessions. The authors compare it to the one-sided sleep some birds and marine mammals use to watch for danger, and describe the first-night effect as a night watch for an unfamiliar, potentially risky place.

Researchers are still working out the details. A 2024 study in Sleep found the first-night effect itself, but didn't find that the degree of uneven deep sleep between hemispheres was linked to it, so the night watch idea is a strong lead rather than the full story.

Does it happen at home too?

The first-night effect isn't only about a new room. In the 2024 study in Sleep, 45 healthy people spent two lab nights a week apart, and a second group of 30 spent two nights in the lab and two at home, all recorded with polysomnography. The first night was worse even when the nights weren't back to back, mainly for time awake during the night, time to fall asleep and total sleep. Sleep disturbances on the first night happened in both familiar and unfamiliar settings.

That suggests novelty of any kind can play a part. Wearing electrodes at home for the first time is new, just as a hotel room is. A 2022 study in Chronobiology International adds some nuance: in 124 young adults in a modern sleep lab, the first night didn't differ from the second for time to fall asleep, total sleep, time awake or sleep efficiency, though people spent more time in light stage 1 sleep and less in stages 2 and 3. The authors suggest modern lab conditions may soften the effect.

Simpler tracking may not trigger it at all. A 2020 study in the Journal of Sleep Research followed 240 healthy adults wearing wrist actigraphy devices for five nights and found no meaningful difference between the first night and later ones.

Who gets the first-night effect most?

Age and sleep problems both seem to matter. The 2022 meta-analysis found the link with age wasn't a straight line, and that adults aged 20 to 29 had the smallest first-night effect of any age group.

People with sleep problems often notice it. A 2019 survey in Psychiatry Research asked 852 patients how they slept the morning after an in-lab sleep study. In all, 48.9% said they slept worse than usual, 30.5% slept as usual and 20.6% said they slept better, which is called a reverse first-night effect. The first-night effect was most common in people with obstructive sleep apnea, simple snoring or hypersomnia, and in men.

People with insomnia are sometimes thought to sleep better somewhere new, away from a bedroom they link with lying awake. A 2023 meta-analysis in the Journal of Sleep Research, covering 639 patients with insomnia disorder and 171 healthy controls, found that people with insomnia did experience the usual first-night effect rather than a reverse one, with longer time to fall asleep and less total sleep than controls on that night.

How do you soften the first-night effect when you travel?

No study has tested a cure for the first-night effect, so these steps follow from what it seems to be: a brain on alert in a new, unpredictable place. The aim is to make the room quieter and more familiar.

Unusual sounds are the clearest target. Since the 2016 study found the watchful hemisphere reacted most to rare, unexpected tones, earplugs make sense for a first night, and our guide to earplugs for sleep covers fit and safety. A steady fan or white noise app is the other option, covered in white noise for sleep.

Familiar cues may also help. Bring the things that tell your brain it's bedtime: the same evening routine, a book, your own pillowcase. If you already use nasal strips or mouth tape at home, they can be part of that familiar routine. The Titan Sleep System packs both into one flat kit.

Plan around night one. If you can, arrive a day before anything important. Our hotel sleep tips cover the room itself, from light leaks to thermostats, and the travel sleep kit checklist covers packing.

What if you're having a sleep study?

A sleep study's first night is often your only night, so it helps to know the first-night effect exists. The 2022 meta-analysis found it changed sleep timing and stages but not the apnea-hypopnea index, which is the number used to grade sleep apnea. Still, if you slept very differently from normal, tell the sleep team in the morning; they can take it into account. Our guides to what happens at a sleep study and the home sleep apnea test explain the process.

Sleep the way you usually do on a test night. If you use mouth tape or strips at home, ask the sleep team before the study whether to wear them, since they may want to see how you breathe without them.

Can you use mouth tape on a first night away?

You can use mouth tape on a first night away if you already use it comfortably at home and your nose is clear. Sleep Foundation advises testing tape during the day to make sure you can breathe easily through your nose, avoiding it if your nose is blocked by allergies, a cold or structural issues, and folding over one corner so it's easy to remove. A new place, already a light-sleep night, is not the time to try it for the first time. We don't recommend mouth tape for children.

When should you see a doctor?

See a doctor if poor sleep lasts well beyond your first night somewhere, or follows you home. The first-night effect is short-lived, so weeks of broken sleep point to something else. The NHS lists breathing that stops and starts during sleep, gasping, snorting or choking noises, waking up a lot and loud snoring as symptoms of sleep apnoea, along with feeling very tired during the day. Tape and strips don't treat sleep apnea; see sleep apnea warning signs.

A nose that stays blocked most nights is also worth checking. If you're pregnant, ask your midwife or doctor before trying a new sleep product. Our safety page lists who should skip mouth tape.

Our pick (paid partner): Titan Sleep System

For nights away, our pick is the Titan Sleep System. It doesn't stop the first-night effect, and nothing has been shown to. It's our recommendation for keeping your nightly breathing routine the same wherever you sleep, and we haven't tested or ranked kits ourselves.

Titan describes it as TitanAir Nasal Strips and Titan Mouth Tape together as one nightly system. Titan says the strips are drug-free external nasal dilators with flexible spring-loaded bands, placed just above the flare of the nostrils on the soft part of the nose. The tape is bamboo silk in one oval size, 76 by 38 mm, worn horizontally across the lips, and Titan suggests 20 to 30 minutes of daytime practice before the first night, which is best done at home.

Titan says every batch is third-party tested and certified PFAS-free, and its 30-night guarantee refunds you if your sleep isn't better after 30 nights. You can see the supply options on the Titan Sleep System page.

Read next

• How to sleep well in a hotel
• How to fall asleep faster
• What happens at a sleep study

* This content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or health condition. Talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your health.