Do you go to sleep with a problem, and wake up with a solution?

[Descartes]

I find this quite strange, but also very rewarding. I'm a software engineer, so I'm often plagued with problems, and quite often they're problems I've never encountered before (that's half the fun). A lot of times I can come up with at least a general solution rather quickly, but sometimes not. I'm also plagued with perfectionism with my designs, so I'm constantly thinking, "is this elegant?" The strangest part, however, is that I'll often times go to sleep with not a clue as to how I want to go about implementing something, and I'll wake up with the answer. The same applies when I'm studying any given topic. I'll cease studying, thinking I know a topic fairly well, but by the time I wake up the next morning I have a very profound understanding. Clearly there's a lot more going on whilst I'm (ostensibly) sleeping. Would this constitute dreaming? Could this possibly be interfering with my sleep?

 

[TripleJ]

Same here. I design and draft buildings and sometimes I'll have a problem. Then I have a dream about it and figure it out. I distinctly remember one dream where I had to figure out the flashing(waterproofing) on a house and I flew up around the house and looked at how it should go!

I doubt it would be interfering with sleep. I think it is all part of sleep. It's probably beneficial, developing the brain.

 

[StageLeft]

Not very often...mainly the only time I go to sleep with a problem and wake up with a solution is if the problem is tiredness

 

[TripleJ]

lol Skoorb, you're such a droob.

 

[Descartes]

Sometimes I'll wake up, and immediately blurt out some random word. The other morning, I woke up, and without apparant conscious control of my larynx, I said, "recalcitrant." Why I said this, I have no idea. It's not even a word I use. Several weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night saying, "what data do you need, what data do you need!" How pathetic is that?

 

[Parrotheader]

Being an insomniac, I inevitably find the solution before I go to sleep. It never fails when I have a big project at work (or back in college.) I'd finally get sleepy and head off to bed. The moment my head hits the pillow my mind reaches a level of activity it never achieves during the day and I come up with answers to problems or possible ideas to try for something. So I'll have to get up and write them down while they're still fresh in my mind. While it's great in that it helps me out in the long run, it's very frustrating when you just want to get some sleep at bedtime like any normal person.

 

[Descartes]

I can empathize Parrotheader. What's frustrating, is thinking you'll remember those ideas the next morning, and the only thing you end up remembering is that you had an idea, not the actual idea itself.

 

[Azraele]

I've had that happen a few times, the most memorable one being somewhat silly. I'd been trying to figure out where the quote "A place for everything and everything in its place" came from. I was stumped....that is until about 3am when I sat straight up in bed and said "Rosie!" The quote was from an episode of the Jetsons.

 

[StormRider]

Yes. When I was younger, sometimes I've come up with solutions to a math proof while I was asleep.

 

[Looney]

Not while i'm sleeping... but one of the best times to think is while i lie in bed.

 

[Kelvrick]

<< Yes. When I was younger, sometimes I've come up with solutions to a math proof while I was asleep. >>


I hate you... I've never done it myself, but I hope I will some day.

 

[Kronos]

Sometimes I go to bed and think about stuff, but thats still while I'm awake. Ive never heard anything like that before and its kind of a hard story to believe.

 

[Elledan]

I usually come up with a solution to a problem right before I fall asleep, causing me to return to full awakeness again. It's pretty tiresome if I've a lot of problems to solve

But yes, sometimes I'll wake up with the solution clearly visible in my mind.

 

[Juniper]

I dream of codes every time I'm doing a software project. And I do not get a good sleep when I'm in that state... Solutions sometimes do come, though, when sleeping

 

[Descartes]

<< Ive never heard anything like that before and its kind of a hard story to believe. >>



Why is it hard to believe? Obviously there are others who experience the same type of behavior. It's a bit of a curse at times really...

 

[killface]

<< Not very often...mainly the only time I go to sleep with a problem and wake up with a solution is if the problem is tiredness >>


Here here! I tend to get into a rut with my thinking. When I wake up I usually have a better attitude and can take problems on with a different approach

 

[zippy]

Sometimes I go to sleep with a problem and wake up having forgotten what the problem is/was. I guess that's a kind of solution. =\

 

[urameatball]

that happened once...
I think it was for an essay where I had nothing original to right... fell asleep and woke up at like 3am with an idea and started typing.

but usually, I goto sleep with a problem... wake up, see the problem again and go back to sleep

 

[amdskip]

yeah, calc problems

 

[prodigy]

Confucius say, boy who go to sleep with sex problem on mind wake up with solution in hand.

 

[TheKub]

The way it usually works for me is I go to bed then wake up in the morning with a problem...

Got to take a wiz and don't want to get up....

 

[The Stigenator]

yes I do.. very often.

Apart from sleeping I have found that I can solve problems while sitting on the can.