Falling asleep is the creative sweet spot.

Science Advances - December 8, 2021 - Volume 7, Issue 50 - DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj5866

Commentary

A person's ability to think creatively is paramount to facing new challenges. However, it is unclear how this creativity arises.

This study shows that brain activity common in the twilight zone between sleep and wakefulness (non-rapid eye movement sleep stage 1 or N1) can ignite a creative spark. In the study, participants (N= 103) were prompted to tackle math problems, unaware that hidden rules could solve them almost instantly.

We found that spending at least 15 seconds in N1 during the rest period tripled the chance of discovering the hidden rules (83% compared to 30% when the participants were awake), and that this effect disappeared when the participants reached deeper sleep.

The findings suggest that there is a creative sweet spot within the sleep onset period, and that to reach it, individuals need to strike a balance between falling asleep easily and not sleeping too deeply.