French biologists have recorded a 'creative boost' between sleep and wakefulness.
The human brain is capable of solving the most complex tasks moments before falling asleep, scientists at the Brain Institute of Paris have said, Science Advances writes.
According to the biologists, shortly before falling asleep, people experience a "creative boost". This occurs during the sleep phase, which the experts call N1, or the stage without rapid eye movements. Experts say the intermediate state between sleep and wakefulness may help people come up with new ideas.
Neuroscientist Delphine Udiett, from the Paris Brain Institute and co-author of the study, confessed that she had experienced many hypnagogic experiences similar to dreams. "I was surprised that almost no scientists have studied this period in the last two decades," she revealed the reason for the interest in the topic.
French scientists used the method of American inventor Thomas Edison, who dozed off with balls in his hands and woke up from a fall. It is believed that in this way he was able to remember all his ideas.
Scientists conducted a similar experiment. Two groups of volunteers solved mathematical problems, after which they were allowed to rest for 20 minutes. During the break, they were allowed to sleep, but with an object in their hand that fell asleep. Participants in the experiment were asked immediately upon awakening what they had been thinking about and given mathematical tasks.
Biologists recorded: Those who reached the sleep stage N1 coped with the tasks three times more often than others. Those who rested in the N1 phase were six times better at solving tasks than those in the deeper N2 phase.
Previously, French scientists discovered that people who remember their dreams well have two areas of increased activity in their cortex, which work both in dreams and in reality.
