Power Up Your Mind: Learn faster, work smarter

artists cite revelations that have come to them in dreams or imme-

diately on waking from sleep.

Researchers have discovered that your memory does not

function as well if you do not get enough sleep. Some have sug-

gested that the deep sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep

is critical in enabling the brain to make sense of what has happened

during the day. (See pages 26–8 for more information on the brain

and sleep.)

Jayne-Anne Gadhia puts it like this:

I began to realize that if I went to bed worrying about something I would

often have found the answer when I woke up. So now I deliberately pop a

question into my mind before I go to sleep. In the morning when I am hav-

ing a shower I consciously ask myself for the answer and almost invariably it

comes into my mind. I now use this technique as a means of solving problems.

Sir Bob Reid, deputy chairman of the Bank of Scotland and some-

one with a wide experience of leading large companies, finds that

sleep works in a different way for him:

I dream a lot. In the midst of intense periods of work my dreams are always

happier. When I am more relaxed or in the middle of intense physical activ-

ity, I tend to have less happy dreams.

I have a simple way of dealing with the thoughts that I often have

in the middle of the night. Like many people, I find that good ideas

or things I want to remember pop into my head just at the moment

when I want to be sleeping. To make sure that I capture my ideas

and at the same time minimize the interruption to my rest, I keep

a few items by my bed—a magazine, a book, a spare pillow—which

I gently throw toward my bedroom door (ensuring that I will have

to walk over them when I get up in the morning). I hardly need to

stir as I do this. As I turn over to go back to sleep, I actively asso-

ciate the item I have thrown with the thought I have had and “tell”

my brain to remember it in the morning when I get up.

Bizarre as this may sound, it works well for me. In the morn-

ing I see, or trip over, the item and recall the thought I had earlier

132 Power Up Your Mind

T

E

A

M

F

L

Y

Team-Fly®