@ze Yes, that's a variation of the Thomas Edison method, where you leverage the hypnagogic state to boost creativity and problem-solving capacity.

If those who propose that consciousness has something to do with quantum mechnics turn out to be correct, then I'd like to think that the hypnagogic state represents the superposition where these problems are worked on. So when Edison's steel balls wake him up, the state is collapsed and if he's lucky, a useful answer will have emerged.