On “The Magic of Sleep Thinking”

The Magic of Sleep Thinking is a book by Eric Maisel and Natalya Maisel. It gives practical advice for problem-solving during slow wave sleep and describes the experiences of some of the authors’ coaching clients.

Notes

• The discussion of non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in the introduction aligns with the research presented in Incubation in Problem Solving and Creativity. A striking claim is that a lot of thinking and problem-solving occurs during NREM sleep – I find this surprising, perhaps because most people remember dreams at least occasionally, but we typically don’t remember any analytical or problem-solving styles of thought from the time we spend asleep.
• While the title refers to ‘magic’, the text doesn’t imply that the answers are coming from anywhere other than our own brains. Also, the answers aren’t guaranteed to be the right ones – the book gives advice on how to determine whether the answers are useful or just what our brain thinks what we want the answers to be.
• The subtitle of the book is How to Solve Problems & Increase Creativity All While You Sleep. However, the “all” in that subtitle is a bit misleading – there is work to be done while we’re awake, including deciding the specific questions we want to ask and spending time writing just after waking up. This is related to the findings discussed in Incubation in Problem Solving and Creativity. We won’t necessarily be aware of new solutions immediately after waking. Instead, the answers found during NREM sleep may appear in our minds later in the day in the form of insights that seem to come from nowhere. The writing process may encourage the insights to re-arise in our minds.
• The case studies in the book make it clear that the process won’t necessarily produce insights after just one night. We may also need to refine the questions we’re asking and iterate on them.
• It’s important to manage stress (so that our attention isn’t monopolised by anxiety dreams) and to keep the questions in our mind with a curious, wondering attitude as we’re preparing for sleep.

Reflections

There’s enough practical advice in this book to set up an experiment for my Testing Creativity Advice category…

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