Have you ever slept on a problem and found that the answer mysteriously comes to you when you are not focused on it suddenly, almost effortlessly? It is probably not a good idea if you have a report due, but for some problems that take us a lot of mental energy to figure out, they can be solved on occasion by your subconscious mind.
I was just thinking about how I have had these problems I have tried to solve bugging me because I am getting nowhere with them for a while. Suddenly I have figured out a plan and have started to make some progress on these problems which have left me stumped, but it seems sometimes as if my mind had figured out the problem on its own over time.
Throughout human history, there have been breakthroughs which were achieved supposedly when people had solved big questions or problems by sleeping on it. Check this out..
http://www.luciddreamlessons.com/2009/03/04/incredible-famous-dreams/
I have heard of many more which I cannot remember accurately, maybe you have heard of some as well?
So.. How is it that the subconscious mind is able to work on problems while we sleep? Aren’t we supposed to be resting, healing, restoring?!?! What is this nonsense of our minds figuring out complex problems in that non-focused state? Also, if our dreams can be so weird and senseless sometimes, how can any order come from that chaos?
The human brain is an interesting thing, I have heard the argument before that we only use 10% of our brains. I’m still convinced that for many ( such as myself ) that this is truly the case, just kidding, but seriously, according to scientific american that is actually just a myth.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent-of-brain
and another article here..
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100253379
This article below seems to have the view that it is not a myth about the percentage of brain power we use, and that there is potentially vast room to grow still, which could explain how some people have super intelligence and others do not.
http://scienceray.com/biology/human-biology/how-much-brain-do-we-use/
So if all these brain systems are functioning in our sleep, when does the brain actually get a chance to rest? If we are so active mentally in our sleep state, why can we not remember what was going on most of the time when we wake up? I am not sure how it works, but I am sure that our brains do solve problems on their own because it has happened to me many times.
The subconscious mind is a place where everything is stored. I guess in geek terms, it is kind of like your computer hard drive, and you have a billion files ( if your like me ) spread out everywhere in multiple locations, directories, and sub directories. You may not be able to remember what is in every file in detail because we can only load so much information into our temporary working memory, but those files are all there.
So the brain remembers things we experienced, even if we don’t necessarily think about it or remember it all the time consciously. When we are sleeping, perhaps our minds can more easily access the files in our minds which to us if we are conscious of it can seem pretty weird. Imagine if while you were awake, your mind was re-experiencing all your past experiences, it would be a bit overwhelming and you would not be able to focus on very much I would imagine.
This sleeping mind, it workout some pretty interesting and complex experiments from those fragments of random things we have learned and ‘input’ into its database. In our sleep state the brain doesn’t need to focus on, well, focusing. I mean we don’t have to perform conscious tasks such as walking, writing, speaking, eating, pooping on a toilet. All things that actually require some intelligence and focus to do well.
Intelligence and how the mind works is still confusing. Certainly science has not been able to fully map the way the human mind functions. Everyday though we get closer. Some folks have something magical, an ability to recall anything they experienced on command. Photographic memories, amazing mathematical and intellectual genius. I would like to know how much of a difference there is between the way their brain is functioning compared to your average person. I would not be surprised to hear it is that much different though.
For the rest of us with low, average, or slightly above average intelligence, we need to remember that sometimes the brain can figure out our issues if we give it time to do its thing. So if you’re struggling really hard with something, it is OK to give yourself some time to rest on it. 
Check out these articles, they cover the phenomenon of solving problems while we sleep in a bit more detail.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608182421.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8090730.stm
