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Insomnia is usually a frustrating condition; one futilely tosses and turns in bed, trying all manner of tricks to hasten sleep but still lies in the dark, eyes wide open with pronounced alertness and the mind incessantly chattering.

But does it help or hinder creativity? Strangely enough this state of wretched sleeplessness seemingly stirs in one useful creative thought. Dennis Drabelle in his article to the Washington Post mentions Mark Twain as one of these insomniac creators. He later cites that he himself keeps a notepad and pen by his bed to record any thoughts or ideas that come to him during these sleepless nights, like many writer have a tendency to do. They appear to use this nightly wakefulness to their advantage, allowing their creative genius to wash through their expectant mind.

This is understandable, for there is something provocative about the night that rouses the imagination. We often hear unfathomable, baffling noises in the dark; perhaps our eyes catch glimpses of odd shapes or lights in the room. Our senses are heightened like a hare on his hind legs, listening intently for any whisper of a predator, beady eyes scouring the landscape with ferocious agitation. Indeed our imagination has a habit of running wild in the thickness of the night; we are far much more inclined to respond to ideas of a fantastical nature. The night time carries a mystical, almost magical quality, and thus it manifests itself in our minds by inspirational, free thoughts. In short, the potential for creativity is ripe.

Perhaps you do not share my sentiments but I feel the dead of night is an exciting time. Insomnia holds you hostage at this period when ghostly legends come to life (in story books at least), strange, irrational or devious occurrences happen. The rest of the world is supposedly asleep and here you lie with it all to yourself. It is little wonder that insomnia stimulates our most inventive, visionary bolts of wisdom.

Of course we do not plan to be stricken with insomnia and therefore susceptible to creativity- it just takes us. So we are not trying to force a creative moment. We writers know strokes of genius rarely hit when we are staring at a blank screen willing our brains to conjure the divine inspiration, the fluidity of words, to spill out onto the page. Like love, creativity hits us when we are not looking for it. At night we are wishing only to sleep and thus this alleviation of pressure very often musters the ability to form grand concepts.

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