Anecdotal reports recount of individuals obtaining insights during sleep. For instance, various acclaimed scientists have attributed some of their greatest insights to sleep-related mentation. To date, this phenomenon has not been systematically investigated. The current study explored the occurrence and characteristics of Sleep-Related Insights (SRIs) in a large population sample, using a questionnaire approach. We found that a large majority of participants (~80%) experienced SRIs at some point in their lives and about 40% obtained SRIs regularly. Most of these subjects could link SRIs to remembered sleep mentation. SRIs were reported to occur in both sleep and half-sleep states, and at any point of the sleep period. Furthermore, SRIs regarded emotional preoccupations about twice as often as theoretical problems. Finally, SRIs were not robustly related to subjective sleep-quality, but small positive correlations with insomnia and narcolepsy-like symptoms were observed. In conclusion, SRIs are much more common than might have been expected, manifest in several forms and appear to be part of normal, healthy sleep. Importantly, the strong link of SRIs with sleep mentation suggests they result from some form of higher-order information processing during sleep, rather than being (fully) secondary to general restorative effects of sleep. Finally, our findings show that a large portion of the sampled population is aware of sleep's benefits for real life problem solving and experiences such benefits on a regular basis.

中文翻译：

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睡眠促进对现实生活问题的洞察力。

轶事报道重新叙述了在睡眠中获得洞察力的个体。例如，许多著名的科学家将他们最伟大的见解归因于与睡眠有关的心理指导。迄今为止，尚未对该现象进行系统的研究。当前的研究使用问卷调查法探讨了大样本人群中与睡眠有关的洞察力（SRI）的发生和特征。我们发现，绝大多数参与者（约80％）在生活中的某个时候都经历过SRI，大约40％的人定期获得SRI。这些对象中的大多数都可以将SRI与记住的睡眠心理联系起来。据报道，SRI在睡眠和半睡眠状态下以及睡眠期间的任何时间点都发生。此外，社会责任者对情感的关注大约是理论问题的两倍。最后，SRI与主观睡眠质量没有强相关性，但是观察到与失眠和发作性睡前症状类似的小正相关。总之，SRI比预期的要普遍得多，以几种形式表现出来，并且似乎是正常健康睡眠的一部分。重要的是，SRI与睡眠心理之间的紧密联系表明它们是由睡眠过程中某种形式的高级信息处理产生的，而不是（完全）次要的睡眠恢复作用。最后，我们的发现表明，大部分抽样人群意识到睡眠对于解决现实生活中的好处，并定期体验这种好处。SRI比预期的要普遍得多，以几种形式表现出来，似乎是正常健康睡眠的一部分。重要的是，SRI与睡眠心理之间的紧密联系表明它们是由睡眠过程中某种形式的高级信息处理产生的，而不是（完全）次要的睡眠恢复作用。最后，我们的发现表明，大部分抽样人群意识到睡眠对于解决现实生活中的好处，并定期体验这种好处。SRI比预期的要普遍得多，以几种形式表现出来，似乎是正常健康睡眠的一部分。重要的是，SRI与睡眠心理之间的紧密联系表明它们是由睡眠过程中某种形式的高级信息处理产生的，而不是（完全）次要的睡眠恢复作用。最后，我们的发现表明，大部分抽样人群意识到睡眠对于解决现实生活中的好处，并定期体验这种好处。而不是（完全）继之于一般的睡眠恢复作用。最后，我们的发现表明，大部分抽样人群意识到睡眠对于解决现实生活中的好处，并定期体验这种好处。而不是（完全）继之于一般的睡眠恢复作用。最后，我们的发现表明，大部分抽样人群意识到睡眠对于解决现实生活中的好处，并定期体验这种好处。