So you've got a few ideas for a given situation. But which one to choose?
Psychologists from the University of Amsterdam devised a series of experiments to test a theory on "deliberation without attention" and found that once you have the information, you have to decide, and this is best done with conscious thought for simple decisions, but left to unconscious thought - to "sleep on it" - when the decision is complex.
Moreover, and according to the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, lack of sleep affects areas of the brain that respond to novelty. That is, without sleep we are unable to take on new information, think innovatively or respond intelligently to changing circumstances (while we sleep we process information too).
Furthermore, research at the University of British Columbia found that too much reflection could be detrimental in some decsion-making situations. To decide which idea, then, suggests we engage in (conscious) reflection but don't make a major decision without sleeping on it.
