# Why We Sleep – Outline - How it appears here - Cited as an example of the popular “Mendeleev dream” story being repeated. [page:1, {ts:2686}] - Myth highlighted - Story: Mendeleev, after three sleepless days, dreams the periodic table and writes it down fully formed. [page:1, {ts:2637}][page:1, {ts:2669}] - Walker uses it as evidence of dream-fueled creative breakthroughs. [page:1, {ts:2686}] - Epstein’s corrective - Claims the story is “utterly false” and obscures the real, constraint-driven process: textbook contract + standardized atomic weights post-Karlsruhe. [page:1, {ts:2704}][page:1, {ts:2720}][page:1, {ts:2769}]