Microsleeps

A microsleep is a brief episode of sleep when the body is so sleep deprived that it forcibly shuts itself down to attempt to rest. They occur for a period of time lasting from a few seconds up to a minute or two (any longer is called a crash) in order to regain some vital sleep. It's essentially your body's way of saying "if you won't sleep enough, I'll force you to!".

Microsleeps are generally preceded by an alertness dip, and often occur in cycles of 2-5 microsleeps in a row. It's best to stand up and move around (see stayawake) to prevent getting caught in microsleep cycles and then subsequently crashing.

Warning: Don't allow yourself to just 'close your eyes for a moment' during adaptation. Studies have shown that subjects confirmed by EEG to be in NREM1 reported feeling completely awake, meaning that it is completely possible (and extremely likely) that you're microsleeping in those moments without realizing it.

Microsleeps can be difficult to avoid, but it's imperative that you limit them as much as possible for the following reasons:

1. If you have consistent microsleeps every day, they can become aligned into your sleep schedule, causing you to microsleep at the same time every day.
2. The more you microsleep on a daily basis, the more likely you are to continue doing so in subsequent days, which may lead to crashes (oversleeps).
3. If you microsleep an extreme amount, it can even delay your adaptation by preventing you from achieving high enough levels of sleep deprivation to begin the repartitioning process.
As sleep has colloquially begun to be referred to as 'eep', some members of the community have adopted the term 'meep' (micro-eep) for microsleeps.