SLEEP SOLVES PROBLEMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16820, 24 August 1922, Page 10

SLEEP SOLVES PROBLEMS.

(By A Nerve Specialist.) I A certain proverb has it that “ night brings counsel:” in more colloquial language we say of some plan that well “sleep on it,” that is, we shall postpone our decision. But these phrases may very well ajid quite seriously be taken in their literal sense. It is not simply a matter of consciously thinking the scheme over again, ranging the pros and cons on either side, and reaching a decision according to a preponderating balance. “Sleeping on it” really signifies leaving it to the subconscious, and that means that our subconscious minds work on and with the material supplied and then present us with tbe finished article. It is well known that complicated mental operations ar© performed during sleep. Tbe subconscious never sleeps. There are many instances on record of certain famous men who have found tbe solution of a puzzling arithmetical or mathematical problem ready to hand on suddenly waking during the night or as a first thought immediately on waking in the morning. Some poets and writers, hard put to it last thing at night for an idea, have quitted the work, maybe in disgust, and gone to l>ed, only to find precisely what they wanted on suddenly waking. And so with more humble individuals like ourselves, we may find some question or circumstance puzzling us when we go to sleep, but with the morning come the disappearance of the difficulty ami the right answer. The subconscious mind has done the work, and, moreover, done ib much better than we consciously would have done. Again, what is easier for most people than to wake at a. certain unaccustomed hour when they so desire P The only condition needful is that they should drop off to sleep with the wish and expectation definitely formulated in the mind. It may then safely be left to the subconscious to see that the instruction—as it r were—is carried out; and carried out it is, often with the greatest exactitude. These tilings are well enough known, but they are apt to be passed over simply as strange and unusual ph»eiioiJ3e*\sk. Is tlier© any good reason, however, why they should not lie* made use of and turned to good account? Suppose you are in a dilemma and do not know whether to turn to the right or to the left. You have looked at the position from all sides, and exhausted, as far as you can see, all pros and cons. Well, then—now resolutely quit the subject, give it a. rest. Simply take the assured attitude that the fuller powers of the subconscious can be left to tackle the conditions, then “ wait and see.” Iu other words, fleep on it”—leave it to the subconscious. The result will be. in the majority of caseS) the course ma.de dear.