How REM Sleep Supercharges Your Creativity

Want to know the most underrated creative tool I’ve ever discovered? Sleep.

I’ve worn a lot of hats throughout my career — communication lead, crisis communications planner and responder, strategist, teacher, you name it. I’ve walked through more than my fair share of high-stakes situations, where 16-to-17-hour days were the norm and “always on” wasn’t a suggestion; it was the job description. Sleep? That was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

So when I stepped away from that constant cadence — the 24/7 responsiveness, the back-to-back demands — I didn’t know what to do with the stillness. Those first three weeks out of the grind felt… strange. The world slowed down, and my body didn’t quite know how to catch up. But eventually, it did.

And what happened next? Pure serenity and transformation. As I carved out time to take care of myself — spending quiet mornings in nature, setting boundaries, and yes, finally getting a full eight hours of sleep — I noticed something. My creativity bloomed. Ideas started flowing more freely. I’d wake up with clarity. Sometimes, even with solutions.

Actual answers to real problems I’d wrestled with the day before.