by Francesca Grace

Created on: June 06, 2008

Using insomnia to achieve a state of being for creativity is a little like drinking alcohol to "become more social." We have all walked into a social function or even a family gathering and encountered someone who has had one too many cocktails yet they think they're being brilliant and charming. That same state of denial and delusion that drunks function from at social gatherings is essentially the same limited and misinterpreted sense of creativity the sleep deprived function from. Don't get me wrong, you may have an idea when you are exhausted but it is far from your best thinking. It is a stress induced survival mode response that your brain coughs up when it has had enough and needs to shut down.

In our waking state, the brain functions at a measurable EEG reading of 40.0 down to 13.0 Hz, also known as the Beta state. In this mode, we are acting from the very controlled and precise set of behaviors that have been drilled into us from parents and other authority figures. We get up, get cleaned and dressed, have our "favorite" breakfast foods, check our watch, get to work on time without hitting anyone with our cars and we behave in socially acceptable ways that allow us to earn a wage and care for ourselves.

When we are in a resting state, like the half in and out of dreams that we experience upon waking, our brain is functioning between 13.0 and 7.0 Hz in what is called the Alpha state. In this particular semi resting mode, we can access creative problem solving and answers to questions that bother us in our daily lives, like where the heck did I put my car keys?

In a deeper sleep known as Theta state, when our brain waves slow to 7.0 down to 3.5 HZ. Our fluttering eyelids let observers know we have reached the R.E.M. sleep phase and while actively dreaming. Here our brains and our bodies are busy repairing themselves, sorting information and reconnecting experiences with current issues to come up with solutions to problems. We experience a type of sleep paralysis that protects the body from acting out dreams or from simply falling out of our beds. The Theta state is the most important healing time for the body and without it, we are susceptible to physical, mental and emotional illness.

Below the Theta state is the Delta frequency of 3.5 to 0 (or death), and this is what we would consider a coma. With the exception of an anesthetic induced Beta state for surgery, we really don't want to spend much time in this near death zone.

Insomniacs force their brains

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