May Edward Harrison - Daydreaming

I’ve done it – more than once. I’m sure you’ve done it too. In fact I wish I could do it more often. That’s right, it’s staring out the window on a summers day and daydreaming. In fact daydreaming any time.

Well now, thanks to a Wall Street Journal article by Robert Lee Hotz this activity has been legitimised (in my mind anyway).

The Article entitled “A Wandering Mind Heads Straight Toward Insight” uses examples from Achimedes, Newton and others; and looks for explanation in modern brain research.

…we owe the concept of alternating electrical current, the discovery of penicillin, and on a less lofty note, the invention of Post-its, ice-cream cones, and Velcro. The burst of mental clarity can be so powerful that, as legend would have it, Archimedes jumped out of his tub and ran naked through the streets…

So if you’re in the habit of letting you mind drift be reassured that your brain could actually be working better without you trying to control the outcome.

By most measures, we spend about a third of our time daydreaming, yet our brain is unusually active during these seemingly idle moments. Left to its own devices, our brain activates several areas associated with complex problem solving, which researchers had previously assumed were dormant during daydreams. Moreover, it appears to be the only time these areas work in unison.

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Tags: Dreaming, Research, The Brain, Thinking