Sadness spawned an initiative

Dullness in work can become a fertile ground for creative activity, especially for those who can sleep while working.

Scientists at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK recruited 80 people to perform an experiment. They instructed 40 volunteers to copy phone numbers from the directory to paper in 15 minutes, while the other 40 made a more interesting job. Then all the volunteers had to come up with the uses for the two cups made of polystyrene. The results showed that the phone copy owners had more ideas for the use of the cup, Livescience reported.

In the second trial, 30 volunteers copied the phone number from the directory, while 30 others only read the phone number, not the paper. The team found that the phone number reading group was more useful for the cup than the writing group.

People can come up with new ideas in the time of monotonous work.

Thus, passive and boring jobs - such as meetings and guarding - can help people to come up with more new ideas than active and interesting activities. Sandi Mann, the lead researcher, said that it is likely that passive jobs make people sleep more days. A previous study demonstrated that daytime naps are beneficial for memory, while helping the brain process multiple thoughts at the same time.

'When people feel boredom, we will seek stimulation and day-to-day sleep as one of the ways for us to achieve that goal. Day sleeps allow people to rethink issues and situations in their minds , "said Mann.

Most workers do not want to experience the tedious feeling at work, but Mann says that a bit of boredom will bring benefits.

'If life is too exciting, maybe our creativity will be stagnant' , she commented.