Problems are solved by sleeping

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8090730.stm

by rams • 17 years ago

42 15 17 years ago

news.bbc.co.uk

TrevorJ2• 17 years ago

I find that a notebook (or in my case a smartphone) by the bed is a great tool. Write down any and every idea you get while falling asleep/waking up.

Silentio• 17 years ago

Great advice. Sometimes I only get down a single sentence that pops into my head, but a killer sentence can make an entire essay for me.

wglb2• 17 years ago

I have done this from time to time, but often the notes are totally unintelligible.

However, I once solved a difficult code generation problem on a compiler project I was working on while sleeping. This is seriously not recommended.

Ardit202• 17 years ago

You solved a problem while sleeping? Do you care to elaborate?

mcav• 17 years ago

More generally, write down ideas when they happen. An idea may be crap or brilliance, but it's worth nothing for sure if you don't remember it in the first place.

michaelawill• 17 years ago

It's funny you brought up crap. I keep a notebook in my bathroom. I tend to get more ideas there. No Joke.

tmoertel• 17 years ago

Hey, if works for Keith Richards, it's got to be effective:

Richards has stated that the "Satisfaction" riff came to him in his sleep; he woke up just long enough to record it on a cassette player by his bed.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Richards#cite_ref-booth-k...

mhartl• 17 years ago

I figured out the orbits in an inverse r^5 force field during a particularly productive nap in the winter of 1993. (IIRC, the orbits are closed, like those in an inverse r^2 field, but---bang!---they intersect with the center of force.)

johnm• 17 years ago

"Solve world hunger: Xerox donuts."

Problems are solved by sleeping

Related Stories