https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/research-shows-coordinated-shift-in-brain-activity-while-asleep Skip to cookie consent Skip to main content Skip to pause video preview Skip to alerts Skip to pause carousel Site Selection Changing the site selection will update the primary navigation on the page * Patient Care * Research & Innovation * Education & Training * About Featured Links * Giving to Mass General Brigham Featured Links * Giving to Mass General Brigham Featured Links * Giving to Mass General Brigham Featured Links * Giving to Mass General Brigham Mass General Brigham homepage Utility Links * Request an appointment * Log in to Patient Gateway * Find a doctor * Find a location * Choose Language + Home + l`rby@ + Zhong Wen + Kreyol Ayisyen + Portugues + Pusskii + Espanol + Zhong Wen * Search the Site Site-wide search [ ] 0 items available in list reset search Search Close Search Primary Mass General Brigham homepage * Patient & Visitor Information + Patient & Visitor Information Find Care + o Getting Started o New to Mass General Brigham o International Patient Services o What Is Patient Gateway? o Planning Your Visit o Find a Doctor (opens link in new tab) o Appointments + o Patient Resources o Health & Wellness o Flu, COVID-19, & RSV o Billing & Insurance o Financial Assistance o Medicare and MassHealth ACOs o Participate in Research o Educational Resources + o Visitor Information o Find a Location o Shuttles o Visitor Policies * Hospitals, Services & Specialties + Hospitals, Services & Specialties + o Services & Specialties o Cancer Institute o Primary Care o Emergency Care o Urgent Care o Virtual Care & Virtual Urgent Care o Healthcare at Home o Heart & Vascular Care o Rehabilitation o Sports Medicine + o Hospitals o Hospital Locations o Information About Our Hospitals * Virtual Care + Virtual Care + o Our Virtual Care Options o Virtual Urgent Care o Virtual Visits for Primary & Specialty Care o Online Second Opinions * Participate in Research * Centers & Programs + Research Centers & Programs + o o Hospital Research Institutes o Artificial Intelligence o Gene and Cell Therapy Institute o Personalized Medicine o Population Health * Innovation + Mass General Brigham Innovation Contact us + o About Innovation o About o Team o News + o For Industry o Venture Capital and Investments o World Medical Innovation Forum (opens link in new tab) o Featured Licensing Opportunities + o For Innovators o Commercialization Guide for Innovators * Researchers & Collaborators + For Researchers & Collaborators + o o Information for Researchers o Compliance Office o Research Cores o Clinical Trials o Advisory Services + o Featured Research o Two Centuries of Breakthroughs o Advances in Motion (opens link in new tab) o Brigham on a Mission (opens link in new tab) o Gene and Cell Therapy Institute + o Research News o Alzheimer's Disease o Artificial Intelligence * Graduate Medical Education + Graduate Medical Education + o Residency & fellowship programs o Brigham and Women's Hospital o Massachusetts General Hospital o Mass Eye and Ear o Newton-Wellesley Hospital o Salem Hospital o Integrated Mass General Brigham Programs + o Centers of Expertise o Global & Community Health o Health Policy & Management o Healthcare Quality & Patient Safey o Medical Education + o For trainees o Prospective trainees o Incoming trainees o Current trainees * Continuing Professional Development * Other Learning Opportunities + Other Learning Opportunities + o o MGH Institute of Health Professions o Internships o Medical Lab Science Training Program o Mass General Brigham Workforce Development o Center for Academic Development and Enrichment * Our Educational Commitment + Our Commitment to Education + o o Alumni Association * Advancing Care + Advancing Care + o o Integrated Healthcare System o Quality of Care o Health Equity & Community Health o Members and Affiliates o History o Leadership o Accessibility o United Against Racism + o Institutes o Cancer Institute o Neuroscience Institute * Workforce Enrichment and Engagement * Newsroom * Careers + Careers Search Mass General Brigham Careers (opens external link in new tab) + o o Benefits o Careers at our Member Institutions o Join our Talent Community o Employment Conditions + o Featured Jobs o Development o Healthcare at Home Mass General Brigham homepage Open Menu Site-wide search [ ] 0 items available in list reset search Search Site Selection * Patient Care + Overview + Patient & Visitor Information o Overview o Getting Started o New to Mass General Brigham o International Patient Services o What Is Patient Gateway? o Planning Your Visit o Find a Doctor (opens link in new tab) o Appointments o Patient Resources o Health & Wellness o Flu, COVID-19, & RSV o Billing & Insurance o Financial Assistance o Medicare and MassHealth ACOs o Participate in Research o Educational Resources o Visitor Information o Find a Location o Shuttles o Visitor Policies o Find Care + Hospitals, Services & Specialties o Overview o Services & Specialties o Cancer Institute o Primary Care o Emergency Care o Urgent Care o Virtual Care & Virtual Urgent Care o Healthcare at Home o Heart & Vascular Care o Rehabilitation o Sports Medicine o Hospitals o Hospital Locations o Information About Our Hospitals + Virtual Care o Overview o Our Virtual Care Options o Virtual Urgent Care o Virtual Visits for Primary & Specialty Care o Online Second Opinions * Research & Innovation + Overview + Participate in Research + Centers & Programs o Overview o Hospital Research Institutes o Artificial Intelligence o Gene and Cell Therapy Institute o Personalized Medicine o Population Health + Innovation o Overview o About Innovation o About o Team o News o For Industry o Venture Capital and Investments o World Medical Innovation Forum (opens link in new tab) o Featured Licensing Opportunities o For Innovators o Commercialization Guide for Innovators o Contact us + Researchers & Collaborators o Overview o Information for Researchers o Compliance Office o Research Cores o Clinical Trials o Advisory Services o Featured Research o Two Centuries of Breakthroughs o Advances in Motion (opens link in new tab) o Brigham on a Mission (opens link in new tab) o Gene and Cell Therapy Institute o Research News o Alzheimer's Disease o Artificial Intelligence * Education & Training + Overview + Graduate Medical Education o Overview o Residency & fellowship programs o Brigham and Women's Hospital o Massachusetts General Hospital o Mass Eye and Ear o Newton-Wellesley Hospital o Salem Hospital o Integrated Mass General Brigham Programs o Centers of Expertise o Global & Community Health o Health Policy & Management o Healthcare Quality & Patient Safey o Medical Education o For trainees o Prospective trainees o Incoming trainees o Current trainees + Continuing Professional Development + Other Learning Opportunities o Overview o MGH Institute of Health Professions o Internships o Medical Lab Science Training Program o Mass General Brigham Workforce Development o Center for Academic Development and Enrichment + Our Educational Commitment o Overview o Alumni Association * About + Overview + Advancing Care o Overview o Integrated Healthcare System o Quality of Care o Health Equity & Community Health o Members and Affiliates o History o Leadership o Accessibility o United Against Racism o Institutes o Cancer Institute o Neuroscience Institute + Workforce Enrichment and Engagement + Newsroom + Careers o Overview o Benefits o Careers at our Member Institutions o Join our Talent Community o Employment Conditions o Featured Jobs o Development o Healthcare at Home o Search Mass General Brigham Careers (opens external link in new tab) * Select Language + Home + l`rby@ + Zhong Wen + Kreyol Ayisyen + Portugues + Pusskii + Espanol + Zhong Wen Language selector navigation menu. Giving to Mass General Brigham Giving to Mass General Brigham Giving to Mass General Brigham Giving to Mass General Brigham Main Navigation Links * Request an appointment * Log in to Patient Gateway * Find a doctor * Find a location Utility Links 1. About Us 2. Newsroom 3. New Research Uncovers How the Brain's Activity, Energy Use, and Blood Flow Change as People Fall Asleep More alert details New Research Uncovers How the Brain's Activity, Energy Use, and Blood Flow Change as People Fall Asleep Oct 24, 2025 5 minute read * Imaging * Sleep Health * Brain & Nervous System Conditions * Research * share on facebook * share on linkedIn * share on X, formerly known as Twitter * share by email * print article Findings from Mass General Brigham investigators highlight the intricate interplay of diverse physiological processes as the brain shifts from wakefulness to sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham used next-generation imaging technology to discover that when the brain is falling asleep, it shows a coordinated shift in activity. They found that during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, parts of the brain that handle movement and sensory input stay active and keep using energy, while areas involved in thinking, memory and daydreaming quiet down and use less energy. Their results are published in Nature Communications. "This research helps explain how the brain stays responsive to the outside world even as awareness fades during sleep," said corresponding author Jingyuan Chen, PhD, an assistant investigator at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. "By revealing how brain activity, energy use, and blood flow interact during sleep, these findings, and the imaging tools we used to uncover them, offer new insights into the mechanisms of neurological and sleep-related diseases." Graphic showing brain-wide changes in blood flow waves and glucose metabolism during NREM sleep Brain-wide changes in blood flow waves and glucose metabolism during NREM sleep: sensory areas display large, rhythmic waves of blood flow with preserved metabolism, whereas higher cognitive regions exhibit more suppressed activity. The body cycles through two types of sleep several times each night: NREM and rapid eye movement (REM). NREM is the deep, restorative stage of sleep that plays a key role in physical health, brain function and disease prevention. Yet, many of its underlying processes and impacts on long-term health remain poorly understood. Previous studies have suggested that NREM helps clear waste from the brain. Using a new tri-modal EEG-PET-MRI technique that combines EEG to study brain activity, functional MRI to analyze blood flow, and functional PET (fPET)-FDG to monitor glucose metabolic dynamics, researchers examined the brains of 23 healthy adults during brief afternoon sleep sessions. The researchers found that energy use and metabolism decrease as sleep deepens, while blood flow becomes more dynamic, especially in sensory areas that stay relatively active. At the same time, higher-order cognitive networks quiet down, and cerebrospinal fluid flow increases. Together, these findings support the idea that sleep helps clear waste from the brain while maintaining sensitivity to sensory cues that can trigger awakening. The authors note future studies should include larger, more diverse groups and collect longer, deeper sleep recordings. The researchers also plan to use more precise methods to measure brain metabolism and better distinguish between sleep stages. Read the paper (opens external link in new tab) Authorship: In addition to Chen, Mass General Brigham authors include Laura D. Lewis, Sean E. Coursey, Ciprian Catana, Jonathan R. Polimeni, Jiawen Fan, Kyle S. Droppa, Rudra Patel, Hsiao-Ying Wey, Dara S. Manoach, Julie C. Price, Christin Y. Sander, and Bruce R. Rosen. Additional authors include Catie Chang from Vanderbilt University. Disclosures: The authors declare no competing interests Funding: This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (grants K99/R00-NS118120, R01-MH111438, P41-EB030006, R01-MH092638, U19-NS123717, U19-NS128613, and R21-MH135201), by the Harvard Mind Brain Behavior Faculty Research Award, by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant, by the BrightFocus Foundation Research Grant, and by the MGH/HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging; and was made possible by the resources provided by NIH Shared Instrumentation grants (S10-RR022976, S10-RR019933, S10-OD010759). Computational resources were generously provided by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Paper cited: Chen JE et al. "Simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI identifies temporally coupled and spatially structured brain dynamics across wakefulness and NREM sleep" Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-025-64414-x Media contact Cassandra Falone Senior Specialist, External Communications cfalone@mgb.org About Mass General Brigham Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation's leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org. Mass General Brigham Patient Care Research & Innovation Education & Training About Careers For Medical Professionals For Employees Log in to Patient Gateway Find a Doctor Find a Location Contact Us Mass General Brigham Health Plan Facebook X, formerly known as Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn (c) 2025 Mass General Brigham Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Sitemap Web Accessibility Statement Privacy Notices and Terms of Use Price Transparency Supplier / Vendor Information Ethics --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to top We use cookies and other tools to enhance your experience on our website and to analyze our web traffic. For more information about x these cookies and the data collected, please refer to our Privacy Policy.