Sleeping on a problem really can help solve it, say scientists who found a dreamy nap boosts creative powers.
They tested whether "incubating" a problem allowed a flash of insight, and found it did, especially when people entered a phase of sleep known as REM.
Volunteers who had entered REM or rapid eye movement sleep - when most dreams occur - were then better able to solve a new problem with lateral thinking.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published the US work.
We propose that REM sleep is important for assimilating new information into past experience to create a richer network of associations for future use The study authors
In the morning of the test day, 77 volunteers were given a series of creative problems to solve and were told to mull over the problem until the afternoon either by resting but staying awake or by taking a nap monitored by the scientists.
Compared with quiet rest and non-REM sleep, REM sleep increased the chances of success on the problem-solving task.
The study at the University of California San Diego showed that the volunteers who entered REM during sleep improved their creative problem solving ability by almost 40%.
The findings suggest it is not merely sleep itself, or the passage of time, that is important for the problem solving, but the quality of sleep.
Lead researcher Professor Sara Mednick said: "We found that, for creative problems you've already been working on, the passage of time is enough to find solutions.
"However for new problems, only REM sleep enhances creativity."
The researchers believe REM sleep allows the brain to form new nerve connections without the interference of other thought pathways that occur when we are awake or in non-dream-state sleep.
"We propose that REM sleep is important for assimilating new information into past experience to create a richer network of associations for future use," they told PNAS.
Dr Malcolm von Schantz of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre at the University of Surrey said: "Whatever the importance of the dreams themselves are, this paper confirms the importance of REM sleep, the sleep stage when most of our dreaming takes place."
I also saw on the news that sleeping is involved with decreasing the suicide rate with American teenagers. Though, I think that was very unscientific because they didn't consider other factors like home and school lives...
This is actually very interesting. For me at least since up until now I've been taught (from A level psychology) that we don't fully understand the benefits of sleeping (initially you may say oh its for rest but studies have shown that sleeping does not generate any more rest than by simply doing nothing...)
So yes, this is very interesting news. And very important to know too. It makes sense too, since in REM your brain is still active (i,e you are processing information) - so it's basically like a boosted form of thought occuring whilst you are sleeping.
It also makes sense from the perspective of being exhaustion from attempting complex situations (such as courseworks etc) - it's like your body is telling you to go to sleep, so your brain can fully process the info, so when you wake up your mind is fresh.
I take it back, it wasn't a good find. It was an awesome find!
Someone said to the Prophet, "Pray to God against the idolaters and curse them." The Prophet replied, "I have been sent to show mercy and have not been sent to curse." (Muslim)
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We propose that REM sleep is important for assimilating new information into past experience to create a richer network of associations for future use
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