Here’s Why Dreams During Naps Are So Weird
Thomas Edison used to break creative blocks by taking a nap. The inventor would sit with a heavy steel ball in one hand, doze off, and wake up when it fell, just after dipping his toes into sleepland. Since then, scientific research and anecdotal reports have supported Edison’s nap strategy, demonstrating that our brains can make new connections as we slip into the “twilight zone” between sleep and wakefulness. Now, new research published in Cell Reports suggests that we can also access these dream states when we are awake.
To explore the lower realm between sleep and wakefulness, neuroscientists from the Paris Brain Institute were inspired by Edison’s book. They recruited 92 subjects accustomed to taking a nap and describing their experiences (the very definition of a dream job), falling asleep while wearing an EEG net and holding a bottle in one hand. After being awakened from their sleep by the falling bottle, they rated their mental experience for weirdness, fluidity, spontaneity, and perceived level of arousal. During this time, the EEG recorded how deep they had ventured into sleep.
Analysis of the reports revealed that participants’ thoughts were clustered around four distinct experiences: fleeting memories (“an image of my father flashed through my mind”); an alert connection with the immediate environment (“I listened to the sounds of the street”); oddity (“I saw pictures of little aliens”); and a high level of voluntary control (“I was thinking about what I would do tomorrow”).
Read more: “The creative point of dreams”
These experiences appeared to occur regardless of sleep state and even when subjects were awake. “This is the major discovery of our study. Mental states traditionally associated with dreaming can appear both when we are asleep and when we are awake,” said study author Nicolas Decat in a press release. “In other words, the content of our thoughts does not follow the boundaries between wakefulness and sleep! One of our participants, while awake, reported seeing ants crawling on her body against the background of a crossword puzzle.”
An analysis of EEG data revealed a specific brain signature for strange dream experiences like this. Researchers say these types of mental phenomena are characterized by reduced connectivity between the brain’s occipital lobe, which generates visual images during dreams, and the frontal lobe, which controls executive functions. “This signature may well be the correlate of what we feel in such a state: lucid reasoning is overwhelmed by a whirlwind of vivid sensations characteristic of dreams,” Decat said.
Sometimes you need to unplug, and sometimes you need to unplug different parts of your brain: it might help you make more creative connections. Even if you don’t, it’s a great excuse to give your boss the next time you’re caught falling asleep at work.
Enjoy Nautilus? Subscribe for free to our newsletter.
Main image: VectorMine / Adobe Stock
