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We are at our most creative just before we fall asleep, scientists say (2022)
- swayvil 2y agoIn vipassana (it's a kind of meditation) you can sorta enter sleepland while awake, which is a good way to exploit that creative zone.
- schaefer 2y agoI've also had this experience.
- pyinstallwoes 2y agoHow’s it done?
- squircle 2y agoPlace a lit candle on the far side of the room. Put your entire awareness on the flame. Or, go outside and find a single leaf on a tree. Absorb yourself entirely in this leaf. Alternately, focus on nothing. Feel the empty space between you and your surroundings.
- brcmthrowaway 2y agoToo hard. i need some sort of gadgey to do this. Available on Amazon or Temu maybe?
- squircle 2y agoIt's not supposed to be easy. Until... it is. Try sitting and focusing only on your breathing. Nothing but the sensation of breath in and out of your body. Try and count 10 breaths with no distractions, then 20... then realize the counting is...
- swayvil 2y agoHow to do vipassana. Sit quietly. Eyes half-open. Watch all the experience-stuff that you are experiencing right now. That is, all the sights, sounds, thoughts, smells, etc. All those sensations. Watch them as they come and go. Watch your attention too. Watch how your attention is moving, what you are putting your attention on, what you are focusing on and such. Let your attention relax. Don't put your attention on anything. Just let it do nothing. Try to do that. Sometimes you will feel the urge move your attention in reaction to a sensation. To direct your attention this or that. At a thought or whatever. To think a thought or whatever. Whenever you feel like you're about to do that, just don't do it. Don't move your attention. Keep it relaxed. Stay relaxed. Keep doing that for 5, 10, 30 minutes or whatever. That's it. That's how you do vipassana.
- pyinstallwoes 2y agoWhat do you feel when it’s working? What’s the aha?
- squircle 2y agoI appreciate you mentioning this The word "exploit" makes me think about how vulnerable our consciousness can be in those moments before we sleep. Hence a good reason to advocate for not absorbing media while your in a semi-conscious state.
- swayvil 2y agoYeah, sometimes I think about all the things I do, and pretty much everybody does, that is poisonous to my soul. Even the act of reading. Getting all focussed up inside my head like that. It sticks you know. I mean, you put yourself there for a while and you tend to stay there. Stuck in your head, in dreams and abstractions. And then you gradually lose sight of everything else. Alienated from everything. Numb. It's a testament to the resilience of the human form, and the invisible forces that take care of us, that we haven't already turned into bloodthirsty maniacs.
- sen 2y agoI keep a notebook in my bedside drawer for that exact reason. I have/had no idea whether it was based on any science or just placebo, but the number of times I've been nodding off and suddenly had a really good idea or solved a problem I've been stuck on, led to my wife buying me a notebook because she was sick of me saying "I'll remember it in the morning" then... not remembering it in the morning.
- wawayanda 2y agoJust before sleep is pretty good, but the shower is where I've had all my best ideas.
- doubled112 2y agoI've had some good ones loading the dishwasher too. I think it is just that you're off doing something mindless.
- scubadude 2y agoShower here too, and walking the dog
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- datavirtue 2y ago[flagged]
- rhelz 2y agoWhen we are having coitus?
- is_true 2y agoI tend to solve most problems while I'm away of the computer. It could be running, paddling or just walking.
- smeagull 2y agoI like to run from my problems too.
- halfmatthalfcat 2y agoRunning is my favorite form of meditation and also where I solve a ton of problems.
- herpdyderp 2y agoShower thoughts are great too. I've come up with solutions to many complex situations there.
- malux85 2y agoI suspect that this is a proxy for what is really going on - I find that I am most creative /when not under pressure/ I have spoken many times in the past with senior programming friends, some are creative just before sleep, some are creative in the shower, some on the toilet, some walking in nature - the common theme is that they are all in a relaxed state, not under stress - it’s not surprising that this happens for many people just before they fall asleep, but I think if people actively tried to relax more (which is a skill one must practice) then we’d see more creativity peak states
- sublinear 2y agoI don't disagree with you, but the last part of your comment gave me a huge grin. Ah yes nothing more relaxing than your employer demanding that you learn to relax on command, or else!
- squircle 2y agoFor your own sake you should. But, also recognize when your employer is full of bullshit and just walk away.
- MailleQuiMaille 2y agoA.K.A focus 10, as defined in those infamous CIA papers https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210016-5.pdf https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R0017002... One thing I always find interesting is that you always get ideas related to problem or ideas you are familiar with. I never wake up with mechanical solutions nor fashion inspirations, but I reckon that I get more than my fair share of music ideas !
- sublinear 2y agoQuoting the actual study: > This effect was driven by the percentage of insight in the N1 group, which was 2.7 times higher (83.33%, 20 of 24 subjects) than in the Wake group (30.61%, 15 of 49; compared with N1 versus Wake: Fisher’s test, P < 0.001) and 5.8 times higher than in the N2 group (14.29%, 2 of 14, compared with N1 versus N2: Fisher’s test, P < 0.001). The percentage of individuals gaining insight was similar in the Wake and N2 groups (Fisher’s test, P = 0.32). Of note, only 3 of the 16 participants who found the rule before the break (excluded from the previous and remaining analyses) slept in N1 (without any signs of N2), strongly suggesting that there is no a priori relationship between a specific sleep/wake trajectory during the nap and general insight abilities.
- richrichie 2y agoReading through paper cited by the popular magazines and news articles is like looking at the prev night's escapade with sober eyes in morning light!
- KwisatzHaderack 2y ago> Sleep is often seen as a waste of time and productivity Who thinks this? Is the article just straw-manning?
- herpdyderp 2y agoI hate that I need to sleep, but I know that if I don't respect that need that I'll immediately fall apart.
- glimshe 2y agoMany people think this, such as workaholics who brag about needing <4 hours of sleep per night so they can be "productive" in their insanely long awake hours.
- lnxg33k1 2y agoThen you go to their desk and they are just wasting life on facebook/linkedin
- j45 2y agoThere is a set of years, maybe a decade where learning what to do and not to do is learned by spending too much time doing so. Productivity is a relative thing. Ask folks who take a few days off from a keyboard and notice a boost in speed in typing and making more progress than they were. The idea of having pushes to rest and recover can be normal. But time away from the keyboard to think (or not) and be creative (or not) is as important as time at they keyboard to allow the brain to make new connections between everything it's working on.
- intelVISA 2y agoSleep is nature's punishment to those who strive to build great works. Don't ask me how I know :(
- LVB 2y agoI just turned 50 and am slowly starting to hate being sleepy. I think(?) I'm getting a restful night's sleep as I typically have, and I'm still active and eat pretty well, but damn... every time I sit down after about 3 pm I feel ready to doze off. I have so much I want to do (not necessarily work, either, but things like reading an engrossing book, watching the movie with the family, etc.), and frequently falling into a groggy state frankly sucks. I'm still experimenting with how to improve the situation.
- dyauspitr 2y agoI do pranayama (which is more widely popularized as Wim Hof breathing). It involves hyperventilating, followed by exhaling completely and holding your breath for up to 2 minutes. I’ve found this breath retention/mild hypoxia period to be highly creative and have instantly come up with visual solutions to some hard problems I’ve been working on during it.
- cpuguy83 2y agoGiven dreams I've had, I'd say I'm the most creative while sleeping.
- technothrasher 2y agoSo that weird idea I had the other night while falling asleep for a dramatic film involving a dump truck full of pepperoni as the leading character is actually not insane?
- ackbar03 2y agoI'm intrigued
- Kye 2y agoThis could be a sequel to Up in Smoke.
- tEMporality7 2y agoDoes the leading character have a dump truck?
- _xiaz 2y agoYes, and it's full of pepperoni!
- pcchristie 2y agoI read in a book once that the zone 10-20 minutes before sleep where you're kind of transitioning is a kind of altered state of consciousness, and that Edison used to utilise this by, during working sessions, sitting in a chair with a glass bottle in his hand and dozing off to sleep. He'd make progress in his thinking in this "special zone", keep moving through it to sleep, drop the bottle, smashing it on the floor at which point he'd be awoken and would bring back what he'd achieved into the "real world" and press on.
- nosbo 2y agoI swear I heard the same with Dali, holding a metal key over a metal box.
- Unbefleckt 2y agoYes I've heard the same story with Leonardo Da Vinci.
- demondemidi 2y agoI’m glad they used empirical data and didn’t just ask people how they felt. Weird tho that it just doesn’t jive for me but I’ve never measured myself so maybe I’m biased.
- msephton 2y agoQuincy Jones (famous record producer) gets into this "alpha state", half-awake, to do his best studio work. And also apparently so does Richard D James (Aphex Twin).
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- more_corn 2y agoI beg to differ. Shower thoughts are the real business.
- jamesmontalvo3 2y agoShower right before bed, maybe?
- gibbitz 2y agoI was just about to post this. I may come up with creative ideas around sleeping and waking but all the creative problem solving happens in the shower!
- j45 2y agoThis might not be what former night owls need to read.
- carabiner 2y agoProlong this by staying up all night and having microsleeps every 5 minutes.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- waldothedog 2y agoThis is is such a problem for me. I’ll come up with borderline-absurd ideas JUST before falling asleep and become absolutely convinced I need to dump tons of energy into them. Sometimes it’s a blessing, sometimes it’s a curse
- mpliax 2y agoEdging my sleep, you say
- landosaari 2y agoSee also Nyctography [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctography
- rajnathani 2y agoIt could also slightly have to do with that we don't have any of the day's tasks in head. Not that this is the main reason, but just one of the factors. From a biological/endocrinological standpoint though, from what I understand, that cortisol levels are highest in the mornings.
- GastroLogic 2y ago[dead]