3 Ways Sleep Boosts Your Creativity, and How to Make it Happen Tonight
What - actually - does sleep do for our brains and our creativity?
As someone who has been studying the brain for over 20 years, I know that sleep is crucial for the brain to function best. I’ve seen it in my patients. And as an artist, I’m always looking for ways to boost my creative output. Good quality sleep definitely sets the stage for our best work, and I want to understand the science behind it - for me, understanding helps me to actually stick to the habit I’m trying to create.
Girl peeking out from covers, trying to sleep but wide awake
When you control your day-to-day schedule, whether as an artist, creator, or business-owner, you need to be energized and motivated in order to make progress, and feel like your day was meaningful. No one is looking over your shoulder to keep you moving. It is WAY too easy for days to slip away and leave you wondering what just happened. And if you work on a tight schedule in an office, but want to make time to create at home, energy and motivation are just as tough to come by. So let’s hack into the process of sleep to figure out how to get the real benefits, in a way that actually fits into our own personal life.
There are three key processes that occur during sleep - overnight or even a nap - that rejuvenate our brains.
Elimination of cellular waste, debris, and toxins
Compressing and organizing cognitive processes and memories, making new connections
Healing and recovering of body (muscles, joints, organs) and brain through rest
Model of the connections in the brain, floating above a purple surface
More on how these processes affect creativity in a moment. First, let’s start with what creativity actually is. Sara Mednick, a researcher on this topic, starts by describing creativity as making associations between disparate ideas, things that on the surface do not seem related. The point she makes though, is that the connections are new and useful. It’s the usefulness that peaked my interest in this definition. Rather than just thinking of cool and interesting connections, the word “create” is the root. You’re generating a useful, new association in response to a problem, or challenge.
BONUS INFO: (Cool podcast where you can hear Sara discuss this: Chasing Sleep, S2 Ep5)
Art and craft both live in this space, along a kind of continuum from question to answer. It’s been said that art asks questions, challenges our perceptions, and sparks curiousity for further exploration. It’s helpful to then think of craft as the expert skill developed and executed to provide a solution in a clear, concrete way.
With that concept of creativity in mind, let’s get back to the brain, and why we need good sleep to be at our best creatively.
Elimination of cellular waste, debris, and toxins
We are consuming, both physically and sensorially, a variety of unnecessary food molecules and bits of information. SO much consumption. We cannot keep all that data in our conscious minds and expect to have clear and functioning neural pathways ready to light up and make new connections. And nutritionally, we are ingesting much more than we actually need for our brain and body to function optimally.
The deep sleep, or non-REM phase typically occurs soon after we fall asleep, and it is when our brain is not receiving external stimuli.
Small wooden storage drawers, like an old card catalog, representing memories stored in the brain
2. Compressing and organizing cognitive processes and memories, making new connections
Meanwhile in the deep sleep NREM phase, the hippocampus, the short-term memory “cache” is cleared, with some memories being selected for long-term storage in the cortex. Metabolically, our cells are also disposing of waste and debris so systems can run smoothly. This sorting, tossing and organizing of memories sets the stage for new connections and pathways to be made, crucial to our creative process. The more clutter piles up, the more our brain is occupied with finding ways through and around the clutter, rather than generating new ideas and learning new things. Then, as we cycle into the REM, or Rapid Eye Movement phase of sleep, our brains are making new connections and expanding our neural networks.
As an artist, craftsperson, or athlete, this phase is imperative in forming new procedural memory, or encoding new ways of moving the body, so that we become more efficient and automatic in our skills. Emotional memories are also processed during REM sleep, helping us to separate ourselves from our feelings, and start the new day with a clear frame of mind.
Trimming a ceramic pot with a tool, showing how the brain learns a manual skill
3. Healing and recovering of body (muscles, joints, organs) and brain through rest
Finally, our systems just need to stop, or slow way down, for a bit. We need a stretch of time where our muscles (including the brain) get a break from doing their normal jobs of carrying us around, doing our daily tasks, taking in and using loads of information…they need time off. Muscles repair using protein and other building blocks, the heart rate slows, and the voluntary processes of the brain quiet and the automatic processes of respiration take over. Nothing is being taxed, stretched to its limits, or asked to multi-task. It’s like giving your star athlete a rest day - so she can crush it in the playoffs. You know what happens when they’re in for too long of a stretch- they get hurt, or just become exhausted and miss the mark on their goals.
So as we sleep, our metabolic processes clear out the extra cellular waste, anything not needed for our cells to do their jobs. And our brains are working to organize, consolidate, store, process and flush the huge quantities of images, facts, jokes, dates, tasks, articles, videos and TV that we have watched or listened to for the past 16 hours while moving through our days. As a part of that, and especially during the REM cycle, new connections are sparked, and we’re ready for the new day, the new project, the new idea.
If you want to know more about healthy longevity and sleep, a great book is Outlive, by Dr. Peter Attia, and if you’re craving more on how art and the brain are intertwined, check out Your Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. See the Resource section at the bottom for more information.
What are your best habits for good sleep? Let me know! And maybe add one of these 3 ideas to your routine, too. Pick the one that seems like it fits best in your life.
WHICH NEXT ACTION FITS YOU?
Here are three ideas you can implement now for better sleep tonight. I’ll offer one simple solution, one quick fix, and one fun treat.
You know which one you’re more likely to do, so start there!
The Simple Solution:
Ok, this is really specific, but go get Bedtime tea by Yogi. Stop what you’re doing (including scrolling) about an hour before you have to get ready for bed. Drink the tea and sit still for 30-60 minutes, with your feet up! No dozing off. TV is fine, but try a light or funny show, no news, drama or crime shows!
The Quick Fix:
Adjust your thermostat. For the best quality sleep, most people benefit from somewhere between 60-67 degrees F. See, our body temperature normally drops in preparation for sleep. A cooler room is telling your body it’s time for sleep. Extra bonus: Deep Sleep and REM phases, both super critical for mental and physical restoration, are promoted by these cooler temperatures.
The Fun Treat:
I’m a sucker for solving a problem with buying something, so here’s the ultimate step for those really interested in a long-term solution for better sleep. Get yourself an Oura ring. You wear it all the time for best results, but at least overnight while you sleep. It’s so light, I don’t think about my ring at all, and even feel weird if I’m not wearing it. I’ve had mine for a few years now, and it has completely changed my awareness around how my behaviors affect sleep. They start at about $300, so it’s definitely something to consider carefully. The link to learn more is in Resources at the end.
For me, one thing I’ve had to accept is I am not my best when I try to “grind” and wake up at 5am. Yes, it’s nice having the extra quiet time, but I’ve noticed that brain fog creeps in after just 2-3 days of these early mornings. Starting with good sleep, I’m more productive during my waking hours and at least have a fighting chance when evening rolls around and I want to relax and enjoy some downtime without dozing off!
Go have a good night for a better morning. Your clarity and creativity is well worth it!
With enthusiasm for art & life,
Heidi
Key References & Resources:
Podcast on Sleep & Creativity: Chasing Sleep, Season 2, Episode 5
Mednick, S. C., McDevitt, E. A., & Drummond, S. P. (2009). REM sleep facilitates creative problem solving. Science, 326(5954), 1601.
Outlive, by Dr. Peter Attia
Your Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
Oura Ring sleep tracker, Science & Research page of website