Sleep technique used by Salvador Dal really works
By Yasemin Saplakoglu published 1 day ago
Some of the world's most creative minds, including Salvador Dalí and Thomas Edison described using this sleep technique to bolster creativity
Salvador Dalí used various napping techniques, including waking up in the N1 stage of sleep, in order to spark creativity. (Image credit: Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images)
A sleep technique described by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and famous inventor Thomas Edison might actually work to inspire creativity, researchers have found.
To get the creativity boost, you essentially need to wake up just as a certain sleep stage sets in, where reality seems to blend into fantasy.
To use the technique, visionaries such as Dalí and Edison would hold an object, such as a spoon or a ball, while falling asleep in a chair. As they drifted off, the object would fall, make a noise and wake them up. Having spent a few moments on the brink of unconsciousness, they would be ready to start their work.
This early sleep stage, known as the hypnagogia state or N1, lasts only a few minutes before you drift off to deeper sleep, but it may be the "ideal cocktail for creativity," the researchers wrote in the study, published Dec. 8 in the journal Science Advances. Humans spend about 5% of a night's sleep in N1, but it's an extremely understudied sleep stage, said senior author Delphine Oudiette, a sleep researcher at the Paris Brain Institute.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/little-known-sleep-stage-may-be-creative-sweet-spot
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