Wanna Get More Creative? Get Some Sleep!

Here’s something interesting I read over at Lifehacker.

According to the science-folk of Harvard University,  sleeping on new ideas and information allow you to make tougher decisions and solve problems as well.

Research indicates that sleeping makes you 33% more likely to make connections between distantly related points.

I came from a fairly hectic industry- media and advertising.  When I think about it now, I can imagine that it’s probably the same for just about any industry.  The Philippine work culture reveres the employee who stays up all night finishing the financial reports, the client relations officer who heads straight for a meeting after a 13-hour flight, or the events management team who’s up setting up all night setting up the stage for a 2-hour event the following day.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School and director of the Sleep Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, most people think of the sleeping brain as similar to a computer that has “gone to sleep”- unproductive, dormant and completely inert.

Dr. Ellenbogen brings forward the idea that the sleep actually enhances brain performance, including learning and memory, and more importantly, the ability to think out-of-the-box.

Steven Jobs of Apple once defined creativity as “just connecting things”- which is exactly what a more well-rested brain does: create the connections among seemingly unrelated ideas into something completely inspired and fresh.

So rather than taking a smoke, a coffee break or a snack- why not take a nap instead?

Companies like Google, Cisco Systems and Procter & Gamble have already installed these cool little Energy Pods at the office- high-tech looking recliners with egglike hoods that block noise and light, allowing employees to take naps at work, and come out refreshed and mentally reorganized.

Or it might be as simple as whipping out a pillow and just plopping yourself down for a few minutes.  I’ve actually taken catnaps like these on those few occasions I’ve been sleep-deprived.

Sleep Pod photo courtesy of NYTimes.com.  Read the rest of the New York Times article here.

Cheers, everyone!
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