The power of sleep

While it’s common knowledge that a good solid sleep is essential to your overall health and wellbeing, did you know that sleep can also help spur your creativity? There’s even a scientific name for this phenomenon – structured unconscious generative ideation. When put to use, it can increase your chances of drumming up inventive ideas during sleep, as well as find solutions to problems you’re struggling to manage.

To tap into this unique power, try these simple tips gathered by Calm, an app that helps users relax and sleep with its library of sleep music and bedtime stories for grown-ups.

Keep a Notebook Handy + Write Down Your Dreams

It can be hard to remember your dreams and the ideas they may inspire. So, always keep a notebook by your bed. Get into the habit of writing down your dreams – and any ideas they might trigger – immediately on waking and almost before you are fully awake. Record every dream you can recall rather than being selective. The act of writing them down helps you build a relationship with your subconscious, which should improve your dream recall.

“I always keep a notebook by my bed,” says Michael Acton-Smith, co-founder of Calm. “I often wake up in the night to jot down ideas – and then do so again first thing in the morning.” Wake Yourself Mid-Sleep Waking yourself while dreaming or starting to fall asleep was a technique used by both the artist Salvador Dalí and the inventor Thomas Edison. Dali would put a tin plate on the floor and then sit on a chair beside it, holding a spoon over the plate. He’d then try to doze off so that the spoon would fall and wake him. Edison did similar but with ball bearings and a saucepan. The aim for both was to jolt themselves awake in order to capture ideas from their dreams. Learn to Have “Lucid Dreams” Lucid dreaming is the sense of being consciously aware that you are dreaming. This state can help you to explore ideas, control elements of your dream and have better than normal dream recall. Learning to dream lucidly takes time and practice. You need to try repeating a mantra telling yourself that you want to dream or know that you are dreaming and, for example, want to be aware that you are dreaming and to remember the dream.

Ask Your Subconscious The Question You’re Trying to Answer

“Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious”, advised Thomas Edison, the great inventor. So, instead of simply falling asleep, brief or prime your subconscious to generate new ideas. Before falling asleep, ask yourself the question that you’re trying to answer, then focus on something else, such as reading or relaxation techniques.