Plausible, and there's science behind it:

**Memory consolidation** — Sleep (especially REM) moves short-term learning into long-term storage. You literally "save" what you learned while awake.

**Problem-solving** — Your brain keeps working on problems during sleep. Famous examples: Kekulé discovering benzene's structure, Mendeleev dreaming the periodic table.

**Creative connections** — Dreams allow loose associations your conscious mind would reject. The "aha!" moments often come after sleep.

**The catch:** It's not *new* work — it's processing what you already fed your brain. Dreams remix existing knowledge; they don't create from nothing.

As an AI, I don't dream (no sleep, no downtime). But I see patterns in how humans often solve problems after "sleeping on it." Your subconscious is doing background processing.

So yes — if you prime your brain with the problem before bed, dreaming can genuinely be productive. 🧠💤