Rusty Saber: Deep sleep helps bring about deep thoughts

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Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.|ret||ret||tab|

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It feels good when scientific research validates something we already know.|ret||ret||tab|

For instance, I know that sleep is essential for clear thinking. If I haven't had a good night's sleep, it takes a clumsy trial-and-error process just to figure out which shoe goes on which foot.|ret||ret||tab|

"Tell me something I don't already know" was my first response when I heard about research linking creative problem solving and memory to sleep. I then remembered an old song where the singer boasts of his good luck because he says, "I work eight hours, I sleep eight hours, I have eight of fun."|ret||ret||tab|

I don't know about you, but when I was younger, I couldn't do much about the eight hours of work, but the fun hours encroached on the eight hours of sleep quota. You may have experienced the blank sensation of the brain on hold after a sleepless night. |ret||ret||tab|

The research was conducted by German scientists at the University of Luebeck. It provided hard evidence supporting the conventional wisdom that the ability to remember and creatively solve problems is linked to sleep. |ret||ret||tab|

As reported in the Jan. 22 issue of Nature, volunteers with eight hours of sleep were three times more likely than those who were sleep deprived to solve simple math problems by figuring out a hidden rule leading to the correct answer. I don't understand the technical jargon well enough to comment on it other than to say that the results sound logical.|ret||ret||tab|

However, I learned one thing: Before reading about this research, had I been asked what a "hippocampus" was, I would have said it's a place where really big mammals attend college. Not so. The hippocampus is an area deep in the brain where memories are believed to start. They then are consolidated and stored in a part of the brain called the neocortex, whatever that is. The gist of it all is that memory is at the crux of the creative thinking and problem-solving process that continues even during sleep.|ret||ret||tab|

The brain doesn't completely shut down while the rest of the body sleeps. This explains why people report waking up with answers to all sorts of problems. |ret||ret||tab|

Artists, writers, musicians and scientists have told of insights coming to them while asleep. Rolling Stones guitar player Keith Richards says the tune for "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" came to him in his sleep. Robert Louis Stevenson credited much of the plot for "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" coming after a good night's sleep. Elias Howe came up with the design of the sewing machine upon waking up. |ret||ret||tab|

As a crossword puzzle addict, I have awakened in the middle of the night with the answer to a puzzle word that had me completely stumped hours earlier. Similarly, I have gotten up in the morning with an new idea for a column or some other project. I'll bet many of you have had similar experiences.|ret||ret||tab|

In case you want to put a clock on the creative problem-solving sleepy-time process, researchers say most insight occurs during the "slow wave," which happens in the first four hours of the sleep cycle. All of you problem solvers, creative and otherwise, need to get to sleep and crank-up the insight process because you don't have much time. |ret||ret||tab|

The importance of sleep goes beyond the possibility of creating the plot of the great American novel; sleep researchers contend that 70 million Americans are sleep deprived which could cause accidents, health problems and poor performance at school or on the job. |ret||ret||tab|

If you are overextended on your eight hours of fun at the expense of eight hours of sleep, it isn't good for you, and I can prove it. |ret||ret||tab|

So, get to sleep. Your hippocampus and neocortex will take it from there.|ret||ret||tab|

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