Science Reveals The Best Time Of Day To Brainstorm Creative Ideas

Got a riddle stuck in your head that has been annoying you for weeks? Do you want to try to build or paint something beautiful? Give it a try when you are feeling tired.

Lots of people think that the worst time to be creative is when you are tired, but a recent study has found that the opposite is actually true. The study^[1] found that people are more creative when they are sleepy, which allows them to think outside of the box so that they can solve problems.

The Study: Are You A Morning Person Or A Night Person?

The study, led by researchers Mareike Wieth and Rose Zacks, analysed data from 428 undergrads. The researchers asked the undergrads to classify themselves as a morning or night person (unsurprisingly the majority of people classified themselves as night owls!).

Afterwards, the students tried to answer analytic questions and problem-solving tasks. The researchers found that the students who classified themselves as night owls were better at solving problems during the morning, and the early birds were better at solving problems at night.

This confirmed that people are more creative when they are tired when their brain isn’t functioning as well. These results may surprise some people; if you prefer to stay up late at night, it can be difficult to imagine that you would be most creative during the early hours when you are still tired. However the research is very useful, as people can use it to embrace their creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Why We Are More Creative When We Are Tired

When you are sleepy your brain struggles to filter out distractions around you, making it difficult for you to focus on one task. It also struggles to form connections between different concepts and thoughts. Both of these things may seem bad, but when it comes to creative thought they are actually very useful. This is because creative thought requires you to think outside of the box and be open to new ideas. This helps you to think in different, new ways that help you to make new connections!

Featured photo credit: Pexels via pexels.com

Reference

[1]

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Taylor & Francis Online: Time of day effects on problem solving: When the non-optimal is optimal

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