Scientists tested the sleep technique used by Edison and Dali
Do you have moments when you wake up just before dawn and suddenly discover new ideas? I have. Also, as a rule, I see a clear plan to implement my ideas. But in the morning, after a long night’s sleep, I don’t remember my ideas and plans as accurately as I do at night. And then I regret that I was too lazy and did not write down all my thoughts.
You don’t necessarily have to wait for the next night and hope for a sudden muse. You can control creative thinking. Do like Edison.
The Thomas Edison sleep technique has been known for a long time. Now, this method has scientific support. Paris Brain Institute scientists — Célia Lacaux, Thomas Andrillon, Céleste Bastoul, Yannis Idir, Alexandrine Fonteix-Galet, Isabelle Arnulf, and Delphine Oudiette conducted a study, the results of which were published on December 8, 2021 in the journal SciensesAdvances.
In their experiment, the scientists tested whether there really is a fleeting opportunity for discerning thoughts at the beginning of sleep. They recorded brain changes using special equipment, comparing the objective results and the subjective feelings of the participants.
Thomas Edison knew that is a short moment at the beginning of falling asleep, favorable for insightful thoughts. You just need to wake up in time to catch the creative moment. The inventor used this sleeping technique to find new ideas.
Not only Edison. The famous artist — Salvador Dali also used a similar dream cheating to catch his muse by the tail.
How Your Brain Generates Creative Ideas While You Are Sleeping
As the authors of the experiment aptly noted, the initial stage of N1 sleep is an ideal cocktail for creativity. When you fall asleep, several changes take place in your brain, each of which can answer the question “Where does creativity come from?”
Creative thinking is a result of the interaction of brain networks involved in the generation and evaluation of creative ideas (default mode network and cognitive control). These same brain functions are activated in N1 when you fall asleep.
Another important factor that helps to catch creative ideas is the different speeds of “falling asleep” of brain regions. At the beginning of sleep, the cerebral cortex is still active, while the thalamus is often deactivated. Cortex activity is capable of eliciting behavioral responses. People sometimes even think they have not slept if you wake them up shortly after falling asleep.
In addition, while falling asleep, our brain associates recent experiences with old memories. This brainwork is reflected in dream-like hypnagogic experiences. Drowsiness in the N1 phase is a kind of intermediate state between sleep and conscious thinking, in which spontaneous thoughts, pseudo-hallucinations can occur. We can not only observe but also memorize hypnagogic images, which also contributes to the emergence of new ideas.
The Most Creative Period Of Sleep
N1 is the first stage of sleep, lasting up to 10 minutes. N1 is characterized by a gradual decrease in brain activity, respiratory rate, pulse, and muscle activity. Falling asleep is also accompanied by the above-described processes in the brain that stimulate creative thinking.
To be more precise, N1 is the first phase of the sleep cycle. There are 4 phases in one cycle:
- 3 phases of quiescent sleep — N1, N2, N3 (NREM sleep).
- 1 phase of active sleep — REM (rapid eye movement).
A full cycle of 4 phases lasts approximately 1.5 hours. For healthy sleep, a person needs on average 5 complete cycles (repeating one after the other).
All phases are important for a healthy state of health, but we won’t go into detail on all of them. Let’s focus only on the first phase of “creative sleep” N1.
In my opinion, the authors of the experiment very accurately defined the N1 stage in their article:
N1 is a hybrid, “semilucid” state where individuals start to be decoupled from their environment and can therefore freely watch their minds wander while maintaining their logical ability to identify creative sparks.
Experiment
The scientists tested whether the short N1 period promotes creative insight, defined here as the sudden discovery of a solution to a problem.
The experiment involved 103 healthy people. On the eve of the experiment, the experimenters asked the participants to sleep less than usual and not use stimulants.
According to the terms of the study, the participants had to solve math problems. At the same time, the tasks contained a hidden rule that made it easier to find the correct answers.
After solving several problems, the participants went on a 20-min break. After a short rest, the participants returned to solving problems again, and some of them were successful in finding the hidden rule.
If participants found a hidden rule, they reported it and solved problems much faster with the new rule.
During the break, the participants rested in a dark room. They lay on a chair with their eyes closed and held the object in their right hand. The fall of the object served as a signal that the person fell asleep, and naturally awakened the subject. In the event of an object falling, the subjects had reported out loud all their thoughts or experiences that they perceived before the object fell. Then they could continue to rest until the end of the break.
During the break, the participants’ state of vigilance was monitored using video polysomnography.
Experiment Results
At the end of the experiment, the participants were divided into 3 groups:
The “Wake” group. The participants never managed to fall asleep.
The “N1” group. Participants fell into the N1 stage for at least 30 seconds (but did not fall into deeper sleep).
The “N2” group. Participants immersed themselves in NREM sleep deeper than N1 for at least 30 seconds (including those who passed N1 and went into N2).
N1 - The Golden Mean Between Wakefulness and Sleep for Creativity
The N1 group members were much more successful in finding the hidden problems solving rule than the other groups.
20 of 24 (83.33%) participants in group N1 found a hidden rule.
In the wakefulness group, only 15 of 49 found a hidden rule (30.61%).
In group N2, 2 of 14 achieved success (14.29%).
Thus, success in group N1
- 2.7 times higher than in the wake group, and
- 5.8 times higher than in group N2.
The short period of N1 has had a significant impact on understanding the hidden rule. However, the beneficial effects of the N1 period were canceled out if the participants achieved deeper N2 sleep.
Those participants who were assigned to the N1 group spent an average of 1 minute in the N1 phase.
The Time for Loading The Update
An interesting fact is also that, the participants found a hidden opportunity to solve problems roughly 30 minutes after the rest (not immediately after waking up). Delayed insight was observed in all three groups (Wake, N1, and N2).
Scientists have an interesting hypothesis that explains delayed insights. The brain captures insights in phase N1 but does not apply them immediately. Only after a while, having convinced of the need for a new approach, the brain “unzips” the new idea and applies it as a more effective solution.
Insight Range
The brain works at different frequencies, depending on sleep and wakefulness. Ranges in N1 can be different too. Scientists were able to find out at what frequency the human brain is most perceptive.
Participants in the experiment with intermediate levels of the alpha range (9 to 9.8 Hz) had the highest probability of understanding.
Participants with the highest delta rhythm (3.2 to 4.4 Hz) had the lowest probability of insight.
The influence of the alpha and delta ranges was assessed regardless of the groups. It can explain the finding of the hidden rule in the wakefulness and deep sleep groups.
The experiment showed how alpha or delta rhythms affect attentiveness to hidden rules in mathematical problems, referred to as “insight”. Although scientists have attributed insight to creativity, finding the hidden path is not the same as writing music or painting. I admit that for some categories of creative cognition, the hypnagogia accompanying the N1 phase may be of particular importance.
Freaky Muse
Edison’s nap technique has a high level of hypnagogia.
Between sleep and wakefulness, before falling into a deeper sleep, consciousness can perceive various bizarre images similar to hallucinations. Which, however, is quite normal. A similar state can also be observed upon awakening.
The hypnagogic state that accompanies the moment of falling asleep also plays an important role in creativity. Behind perceptual experiences, as it was written at the very beginning, lies the work of the brain in linking fresh experience with old memories. Perhaps the surrealist artist Salvador Dali drew his inspiration from hypnagogic experiences.
According to legend, Salvador Dali was replacing a full night’s sleep with polyphasic sleep. He was sleeping for 20 minutes every 4 hours. Thus, the duration of sleep was about 2 hours per day.
It is worth noting that hypnagogic experiences did not affect the finding of a hidden rule for solving problems according to the results of the experiment.
How to Improve Your Creative Sleep Technique by Choosing the Right Object to Hold in Your Hand
Thomas Edison was holding spheres in his hands that were supposed to wake him up every time they were falling. Salvador Dali was falling asleep with a spoon in his hand, which was falling on a metal tray.
Scientists have found that the method of holding an object in a hand is a completely working way to wake up at the right time. However, according to the results of the study, this marker is not very accurate. But it is available to everyone. It’s unlikely that you have all the necessary equipment at home to track the alpha range or sleep phases.
It means that not every time you are holding an object in your hand you will wake up at the right moment. You can oversleep the creative phase N1. But you should definitely try.
To improve the quality of the creative sleep technique, you should pay attention to the object that you will be holding in your hand.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the ideal object for awakening should meet the following criteria:
- makes noise when dropped,
- lightweight, to avoid cramped arms,
- slippery enough to make it easier to fall,
- large enough that a fist can’t close on it.
The object used by the scientists was a light (55 g) cup or drinking bottle 14.5 cm high and 5.5 cm in diameter.
Despite the proven effectiveness of the creative sleep technique, I would not risk replacing full-fledged sleep with polyphasic, as Dali allegedly was doing so. I’m not all for sleeping less. I’m all for getting enough sleep and feeling full of energy. I use this sleep technique from time to time, only as an addition to a full night’s sleep, in cases where I feel exhausted or need fresh ideas.
It is not necessary to explain – how important the study of our brain, sleep, and creative thinking are. I believe that French scientists, with their experiment, laid the foundation for research on such an interesting but still a little-studied mechanism for achieving insights at the beginning of sleep.