Evidence of the brain never sleeps example is when the mind is confused or can not remember anything. According to experts it could be the result of the presence of small parts of the brain that are 'asleep' for a moment to refill or recharge.
Researchers claim that as a condition of feeling half-sleep that causes forgetfulness and small mistakes made by humans, such as forgetting to put the key or put the cereal in the fridge.
The team from the University of Wisconsin to measure electrical waves in the brain, it was found that nerve cells in some people who are tired for a while will not awake or be 'offline'.
"We know when sleepy, we make mistakes and decreased alertness. This is because groups of neurons may have fallen asleep so as to produce negative consequences on performance," said Professor Chiara Cirelli, a psychiatrist and author of the study.
Prof. Cirelli said that before a person feels tired already there were signs in the brain that requires a person to stop doing activities that require alertness.
In checking through the EEG (electroencephalograms) long known that when a person is awake, he could experience a short period of 'micro sleep'. This condition is often regarded as the most likely cause people to fall asleep while driving.
Prior to the 'micro sleep' some brain cells have shown activity entered a period of sleep or local sleep, enabling him to make mistakes.
"This activity occurs in some cells, for example from 20 cells that we monitored in one experiment there were 18 cells that remain awake while the other two had signs of a short sleep," said Prof. Cirelli.
The results of this study are reported in the journal Nature stating that local neurons are affected by sleep in the motor cortex, the brain region that regulates the plan, implement and control the movements and tasks.
