Sleep Matters: 7 Ways Sleep and Creativity Are Linked

Sleep is vitally important. Everyone needs a good night’s sleep in order to be at their best the next day. Many people know that enough good quality sleep can help anyone feel great. What is increasingly clear as well is that sleep has another benefit: it can actually boost a person’s creative ability. Getting a good night’s sleep will help you feel more self confident and add a zest to the way you think about the world.

Great Dreams

Dreams are one experience that makes human beings what they are in life. As people dream during the night, they think about the world around them. Even a minor, five-second experience can trigger a dream a few hours later. As it does, it can help anyone think about the world they face very differently. In doing so, this can help people make the most of their time. Falling asleep and having at least one dream each night are a good way to unleash your deepest inner feelings. This firmly encourages the creation of new memories. In doing so, it helps facilitate your ability to unlock the creative process.

A Wakeful Mind

When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep it helps to make a plan and stick to it. It’s best to go to bed at the same time each night and prepare to wake up at the same time each day. In doing so, you’ll train your body to respond to a certain number of hours of sleep in any given night. What this does is help train all parts of the brain. As you train your brain, you’ll find it easier to focus on creative work the next day. That is why you want a totally quiet, dark room with a welcoming bed and lots of relaxing bedding.

The Hypnopompic State

As you start to awake from sleep, this biological process is known as the body’s hypnopompic state. For many people, this is the time when their dreams are at their most vivid and real. This is the time of the day when people find it easier to remember their dreams in great detail. This is when the body is waking up from REM sleep. REM sleep can be an incredibly productive experience for many people. That’s when the brain is often bombarded by rich and quite intense imagery. Tapping into this kind imagery can help spur creativity and allow you to see the world in an entirely new light.

Engaging Connections

REM is short for Rapid Eye Movement. This is when people are seen to move their eyes quickly under the influence of sleep. It is also when people often feel a sense of heightened awareness even as they are unconscious. Good quality REM sleep also helps people make sense of the challenges in their lives and what they mean. In doing so, people may find it easier to make important connections between varied data points. As they do so, they can also find it easier to find useful solutions to many types of problems.

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is a fascinating phenomena that is being investigated by many major researchers. Basically the process of lucid dreaming means that you are aware that you are dreaming as you dream. In doing so, you can access all parts of your creative mind. If you have never done this before, it is possible to train the mind to engage in this useful technique. Asking yourself if you are dreaming when you are awake seems to help. The same is true of writing down dreams if you get up in the middle of the night for any reason.

Recognizing Patterns

Pattern recognition is one of the single most important things any creative mind can do. When people see patterns in data, they can come up with new ways to use that data more efficiently. This can unleash a person’s creativity and help them see things that others might miss. Creative people are always looking at varied types of ideas. When the body gets enough REM sleep, the mind can find patterns more easily the next day. That can help anyone become more creative at work.

Aiding Memory

Memories are one thing that everyone should have. People have the ability to recall what happened to them before. As they do so, they gain the ability to see what they did right and what might be improved. They also have the ability to think about what makes them happy. Dreaming can help people make sense of their memories. When people sleep, they are able to recreate experiences in their mind and discover what they really mean. This can help by allowing them to relax and open their creative mind.

At the end of the day, sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your body. If you’re not sleeping well; it’s time for a change. Ask yourself what is causing you not to sleep well.