The quote: “ Sleeping is no means for art: for its sake one must stay awake all day” states that sleep is detrimental to the artistic or creative process, and the quote begs many questions. Is this true? Does sleep interfere with the artistic process or does sleep help in some way? To answer these questions lets create a hypothetical situation. Lets say a hypothetical artist exists and he has decided to make a sculpture. Before the artist can begin to sculpt he must first generate an image in his mind of what he is attempting to create. For example lets say he decides to construct a state of a Greek hero. The artist begins to sculpt and continues until it is very late, and he has to make a decision on whether or not to go to sleep before
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It is theorized that when we sleep our brains go through a mental erasure or filtering of “parasitic” modes of activity (Crick & Mitchison, 1983). These activities occur after times of overstimulation, and generally manifest as either fantasies or obsessions (Rasch & Born, 2013). This concept creates two possibilities for our well-rested artist; if his obsession with his artwork is dampened or erased he may lose his vision or the drive he had to complete it. But the elimination of these “parasitic” thoughts does not have to be entirely detrimental; for example, the elimination of the artist’s obsession with one facet of his work, may allow him to see another side of his project, which he would then be able to improve upon. But now lets examine the other side of the coin, and see what would happen if the artist had neglected sleep and stayed awake to finish his …show more content…
At first the artist would experience and great surge in productivity, a so-called “second wind”, but as the night continued fatigue and exhaustion would set in. The artist would experience this second wind because when an individual refrains from sleep for an extended period of time his mesolimbic dopamine system becomes somewhat over-stimulated. The mesolimbic dopamine system is a part of the brain that regulates the presence of dopamine throughout the brain (Alcaro, Huber, & Panksepp, 2007). When an individual becomes sleep deprived the mesolimbic dopamine system drastically increases the amount of dopamine that is present in the brain (Alcaro, Huber, & Panksepp, 2007). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that has an incredible amount of interactions within the brain, and an increased presence of dopamine has been linked to motivation, happier thoughts, impulsivity, extraversion, and a plethora of other feelings (Alcaro, Huber, & Panksepp, 2007). This influx of dopamine would cause the artist to become more motivated to finish his sculpture as well as helping his creative process, but these effects are only temporary and will dissipate as soon as fatigue sets
It is theorized that when we sleep our brains go through a mental erasure or filtering of “parasitic” modes of activity (Crick & Mitchison, 1983). These activities occur after times of overstimulation, and generally manifest as either fantasies or obsessions (Rasch & Born, 2013). This concept creates two possibilities for our well-rested artist; if his obsession with his artwork is dampened or erased he may lose his vision or the drive he had to complete it. But the elimination of these “parasitic” thoughts does not have to be entirely detrimental; for example, the elimination of the artist’s obsession with one facet of his work, may allow him to see another side of his project, which he would then be able to improve upon. But now lets examine the other side of the coin, and see what would happen if the artist had neglected sleep and stayed awake to finish his …show more content…
At first the artist would experience and great surge in productivity, a so-called “second wind”, but as the night continued fatigue and exhaustion would set in. The artist would experience this second wind because when an individual refrains from sleep for an extended period of time his mesolimbic dopamine system becomes somewhat over-stimulated. The mesolimbic dopamine system is a part of the brain that regulates the presence of dopamine throughout the brain (Alcaro, Huber, & Panksepp, 2007). When an individual becomes sleep deprived the mesolimbic dopamine system drastically increases the amount of dopamine that is present in the brain (Alcaro, Huber, & Panksepp, 2007). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that has an incredible amount of interactions within the brain, and an increased presence of dopamine has been linked to motivation, happier thoughts, impulsivity, extraversion, and a plethora of other feelings (Alcaro, Huber, & Panksepp, 2007). This influx of dopamine would cause the artist to become more motivated to finish his sculpture as well as helping his creative process, but these effects are only temporary and will dissipate as soon as fatigue sets