Researchers at MIT and Harvard University studied the impact of dreaming during a nap or N1 sleep (the earliest stage of sleep) on post-sleep creative performances.
Alzheimer’s disease attacks brain regions responsible for wakefulness during the day, the researchers found, adding that wakefulness-promoting neurons in these regions are among the first to be damaged by the disease.
"In general, the sleep onset period has been characterized as containing spontaneous, vivid dreams, suggesting that it could be an ideal state for creative idea generation," Adam Horowitz, one of the team’s researchers told FOX Television Stations Friday. One of the "sleep" groups was prompted to think about a theme – "trees." Each time Dormio detected sleep, a spoken cue awoke participants and asked them to describe their dreams. It then asked them to drift back to sleep while thinking about a tree. The other sleep group was likewise awakened each time sleep was detected, but they were asked to describe their dreams and return to sleep.
"We found that a period of sleep onset boosts creativity compared to staying awake for the same period," Horowitz continued. "What surprised me most was the ability for a simple intervention to facilitate new insight on the mind. People have lived with their thoughts for decades, and to think a whole class of them is waiting barely under the surface to be seen is so exciting."
"This is the first study to show that incubating dreams can boost post-sleep creativity on tasks related to the incubated theme," Horowitz explained, adding, "This is a novel scientific breakthrough, both for understanding the role of sleep and dreams and for the general public, who may be able to apply these findings to boost their own creative ideation."
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