💤 Naps are great - take it from Dalí 💤

“What hath night to do with sleep?”

— John Milton, Paradise Lost

John Dewey, one of the earliest founders of American pragmatism, believed that people are most creative when ‘relaxed to the point of reverie’. 

Creativity can rear its head at any time, but if you follow the example set by some of history’s greatest minds you may be able to coax it out when you need it. 

The trick? A nap. 

Take Salvador Dalí - the father of surrealism. True to form, he had his own unique method for inspiration: “Slumber with a key.”

Here’s the steps of this process, as outlined by Lifehacker:

1. Sleep sitting upright (Dali recommends a Spanish-style bony armchair)

2. Hold a key in your hand, between your fingers (for the bohemian, use a skeleton key) 💀🗝

3. Relax and fall asleep (but not for too long…)

4. As you fall asleep, you'll drop the key. Clang bang clang! 💥

5. Wake up inspired! 💡

The aim of this micro-nap was to get into the ‘point of reverie’ that Dewey referred to, as Dalí only needed a flash of that point for his ‘physical and psychic being to be revivified’. 

(Dalí did also recommend that a ‘great draughtsman should draw completely naked’, but it’s up to you to pick which advice to take.)

As strange as the technique seems, there is science behind it. Sleep consists of multiple stages and we function differently at each level. In a 2012 study by Georgetown University Medical Center professor Andrei Medvedev, he observed that during sleep the right side of the brain - the part responsible for creative thought - was more active.

Dalí’s preferred stage is called hypnagogia (meaning ‘abducting into sleep’) where sleep and dreams are beginning but consciousness lingers. 

He found that this is where he would find his inspiration for his Surrealist art and sufficient energy to go on with the day.  This semi-dream state is where creatives have resided for centuries - Dalí learnt the technique from Capuchin monks, an order that’s been around since 1528 - but it does have its potential downsides. 

⚠️ Letting a nap run on too long can disrupt your natural sleep cycle, which will have a pretty negative impact on your mood and overall performance. If you wake up feeling more disorientated than alert, you’ve missed the sweet spot. ⚠️

Ideally, a nap should be 20 minutes, to get the benefit of the Dalí endorsed ‘revivification’, or 90 minutes, where you’ll get the reward of REM sleep. 

Taking an hour is more likely to pull you from a deep sleep with neither of the above benefits. If you’re already getting a full night’s sleep, 20 minutes (or less) is probably the better option. 

Too much sleep can also be a bad thing.

Be smart. Be Dalí. ✵

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Interested in finding out more about practical, research-backed advice for improving your sleep? Try out our Simba Sleep certified course below!