If we are unconscious while we sleep, how do we still react to certain things while sleeping?

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So ive been wondering about this a while. I always wake up a fair bit before my GF wakes up. and i’ve noticed that even while she’s asleep she still responds to thing like me giving her a kiss on the cheek while she sleeps. and when I get out of bed she always IMMEDIATELY turns over to my side of the bed.

a quick google search tells me that no, we are not aware of our surroundings while sleeping. but i’ve seen a lot of things that seem to contradict that.

In: Biology

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Being responsive, being able to wake up, is basically the difference between asleep and unconscious. Your brain is not “off” when you sleep. You’re still aware of things that you’re normally keenly aware of, like baby cries or footsteps or the way your phone buzzes before the alarm clock ringtone sounds. Unconsciousness is closer to the kind of sedation one gets for minor surgery. You don’t stop breathing, but you are unresponsive and cannot be awakened with simple stimuli like voices or being cut open for surgery.

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