Study: Salvador Dali's Sleep Technique Boosts Creativity

The famous Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali, like many great people, had a somewhat unusual way of sleeping. Sometimes he did not go to bed, but sat down on a chair, over the back of which he hung his hand with a bunch of keys or a spoon. There was a metal tray on the floor under the chair. As soon as the author fell asleep, his hand relaxed, the object fell down and woke him up.

Dali believed that such dream gives him a creative impulse. And recent researchSleep onset is a creative sweet spot a team of scientists from France have confirmed that this sleep technique does indeed have benefits.

Scientists conducted a small experiment. In it, a group of participants were offered unusual math problems, each of which had a hidden solution that allows you to get an answer almost instantly.

After the first attempt to find a solution, the participants were divided into three groups: people in the first did not sleep at all, in the second they could plunge into superficial sleep (the transitional stage between falling asleep and awake, N1) for more than 30 seconds, and people in the third should have entered a phase of relaxed deep sleep with slow eye movement for at least 30 seconds.

Then all the participants were again offered the same problems. Researchers discoveredthat those who spent at least 15 seconds in shallow sleep tripled their chances of finding a hidden solution, which implies increased creative thinking. As a result, 83% of people from this group were able to quickly give the correct answer, while in the wakefulness group only 30% of the participants coped.

Remarkably, people who achieved a deeper level of sleep (N2), tracked in the experiment using an electroencephalogram, the effect of "creative sparks" disappeared. This confirms that a short sleep period has a more pronounced effect on insight, the scientists added.

How and why it works, researchers are not yet ready to answer. This effect requires further study. However, people who cannot come to a decision or are waiting for a muse to visit them may well use Dali's technique at home or even at work. You don't need any special skills for this. The main thing is to find a suitable way to awaken.