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The Genius of Insomnia

This article deals with a very narrow kind of insomnia, but insomnia has different causes, only one of which is likely related to creativity:

  • A mixture of habit and need for sleep
  • Excessive work and demands
  • Life stresses
  • Mental health issues
  • Inclination, i.e., night owls

Like many of us, I've had a variety of sleep styles over the years. In high school, I went to bed late, was chronically late to school, and would sleep into the afternoon on weekends. In my late twenties, driven to complete college while working a job that required hours from 4 AM, I often only slept 3 hours a night, but having to wake up that early eventually stuck my body clock to an early riser. B-school made the same kinds of demand, although now I was an early riser who often stayed up until 3 AM to finish projects. By then, I learned to just go with my needs, to go to bed when I felt like it, and to not force myself to do something I was incapable of, and rather than struggle to simply work until the desire for sleep overtook me. Eventually, married, with a spouse, I had years of solid, uninterrupted sleep, asleep almost as fast as hitting the pillow, sleeping my 'black death' of memoryless deep sleep. At some point, under great pressure at an employer, I develop sleep problems, shortened and shallow sleep. It was only when I left and found a better employer have my sleep patterns gone back to a moderately healthy form, still almost immediately asleep, but usually a decent 6.5 hours, although not my ideal 7.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/opinion/sunday/insomnia-sleep.html?comments#permid=30020237

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