If Your Life Is On Fire And You Try To Convince This Is Fine, These 49 Memes Might Bring You Some Lightness

We’ve all been in a situation where the most creative, insightful ideas begin flowing while in bed. For some of us, it happens during the wee hours, around 2 or 3 am, while everyone around is soundly asleep.

According to a 2017 journal published on Frontiers of Psychology, being in bed puts our bodies and minds in a relaxed state conducive to neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability reorganize itself through the formation of new neural connections.

The article notes that the brain’s creative functions are at their peak once you shut the lights off and your head hits the pillow. That, after an entire day of busywork responding to emails and socializing, your brain enters a freer state. 

And assuming you’re not scrolling through your phone, being in bed leads to boredom. Studies have shown that new ideas often emerge during those dull moments.

Some ideas may even hit you as you’re about to doze off into slumber. This is known as the sleep onset, which, according to researcher Kathleen Esfahany, can manifest through dreaming. 

“When you are prompted to dream about a topic during sleep onset, you can have dream experiences that you can later use for these creative tasks, said Esfahany, who co-authored this 2023 study on dreaming and creative performance.

You can compare the thoughts that race through your mind at 3 AM to the same musings you have while in the shower. You feel like your mind is at a different wavelength, where insight seems to be free-flowing. 

Cognitive scientist Dr. Kalina Hadjiilieva describes it as a “pretty universal human experience.”  

Researchers have found that the brain’s default mode network becomes most active during moments when our mind wanders, as opposed to when we’re doing something that requires focus. 

Psychological scientist Jonathan Schooler says allowing thoughts to playfully cross your mind puts the brain in a “pleasurable state,” leading to spontaneous ideas.