Failing Asleep

I’m almost done with Dan Brown’s latest novel, The Secret of Secrets. The tagline on the front cover: “Author of The Da Vinci Code” was a good add, because that romp through Europe was written over twenty years ago. This romp, alas, is not really much of one. The story ping-pongs relentlessly between explanation and action – making for restless reading – but at least the premise is intriguing. What if the human conscience could operate outside of the human body? What if “you” could exist in both a spiritual and a physical form at the same time? Well, maybe I do, at least when I’m trying to fall asleep.

When you get to be my age – somewhere between “middle” and “senior” – you wake up at least once a night.  Not for an outdoor stroll under the stars and not for a midnight snack.  You wake up “to take care of business”.  It’s an inevitable phenomenon as we get older, especially for us guys.  And when I stumble out of the bathroom I also grab a quick drink of water.  That one-two punch wakes me up, at least enough to get the gears turning and thoughts churning.  Getting back to sleep can be a real challenge.  There are nights I log many minutes memorizing the look of our bedroom ceiling.

Counting sheep has never been my thing, nor the “white noise” of those bedside appliances, but some new strategies have been an interesting experiment.  The first is known as cognitive shuffling.  It’s word play, where you take the letters of a word and spin off new words on each letter for a few seconds.  I start with “piano” (my Wordle starter!) and then go “pepper, portray, people, ponder”, “illuminate, inch, icicle, ignite”, and so on.  What does this do?  It puts the mind in a random state, where you can’t concentrate on stressors like paying bills or fixing stuff.

The next sleep strategy is called “sensory grounding”, which means coming up with lists of things you can smell, touch, taste, hear, and see.  It’s kind of like cognitive shuffling so I’ve never given it a try.  Nor have I tried the breathing techniques, the calming playlists, or getting out of bed and writing down my thoughts on paper (to “release them from my mind”).  All of those seem like a lot of effort just to fall asleep again.

Finally though, there’s a technique called “mental walk-throughs”.  This one is more fun than word games and works pretty well for me.  Think of somewhere you’ve been, preferably a long time ago.  Maybe the neighborhood you grew up in, a house you lived in, or a store you enjoyed spending time in.  Now take a virtual walk through one of those (and here’s where I sense my mind separating from my body).  Look in several directions to see what surrounds you.  Think about how you feel as you’re taking it all in.  Trust me, it’s nostalgic, it’s calming, and it’s calming enough to put you back to sleep.

I read somewhere that The Secret of Secrets is already being made into a movie.  That was fast.  The ink hasn’t even dried on the critic’s reviews, but I guess having the The Da Vinci Code in your back pocket promises another profitable venture.  Maybe I’ll buy a ticket and go see the show.  It’d be another effective strategy to help me fall asleep.

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LEGO Trevi Fountain – Update #5

(Read about the start of this build in Brick Wall Waterfall)

LEGO decided I needed a big helping of humility this week.  Bag 9 – of 15 bags of pieces – brought me to my knees in one heart-pounding moment.  Just as I was cruising to the final steps of the build (in a brisk forty-five minutes), my pulse went into overdrive as I realized the module I’d just constructed wouldn’t attach to its rightful place on the fountain.  It just wouldn’t click in.  In the land of LEGO this is very bad news.  You might as well unfurl a big banner saying: Start over, Dave.

Today’s challenge

If you’ve built IKEA furniture, you know those do-it-yourself sets are engineering marvels.  Everything goes together perfectly; not a piece out of place.  So it is with LEGO.  If one part of the model doesn’t “click” comfortably with another, you’ve done something seriously wrong and that, my friends, summarizes today’s build in a nutshell.  The pile of parts above resulted in the module you see below… only it’s wrong… just slightly off from the way it’s supposed to look.  My penalty: disassemble all those pieces back to the first step to figure out where I’d gone astray.

Just like the second time through Antonio Salieri’s Sinfonia in D Major, I took another forty-five minutes to reconstruct what I’d already built.  The scene at my desk was an interesting disharmony of orchestral beauty, pinched fingers, and nasty thoughts.  Thankfully (and with no surprise), once I got the build exactly as it was supposed to be, everything clicked together the way you see it here.

Bag 10 had to be laughing at me from inside the box.  Bag 10 was scheduled to be opened and completed along with Bag 9 today  Then it watched me fumble the football early on in the build.  Yo, Bag 10, why didn’t you say anything?  You’re a mean one (just like Mr. Grinch) but “I’ll get you my pretty”.  Your time is coming… er, just next week instead of this one.

Running build time: 4 hrs. 33 min.

Total leftover pieces: 25

Some content sourced from the CNN Health article, “If worries keep you from falling back asleep, experts know what to try”. 

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Author: Dave

Five hundred posts would suggest I have something to say… This blog was born from a desire to elevate the English language, highlighting eloquent words from days gone by. The stories I share are snippets of life itself, and each comes with a bonus: a dusted-off word I hope you’ll go on to use more often. Read “Deutschland-ish Improvements” to learn about my backyard European wish list. Try “Slush Fun” for the throwback years of the 7-Eleven convenience store. Or drink in "Iced Coffee" to discover the plight of the rural French cafe. On the lighter side, read "Late Night Racquet Sports" for my adventures with our latest moth invasion. As Walt Whitman said, “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Here then, my verse. Welcome to Life In A Word.

22 thoughts on “Failing Asleep”

  1. The cognitive shuffling sounds like too much work concentrating……my go to is to get up and read for 15 minutes or so which is a form of distraction which seems to clear my brain of worrisome thoughts. Of course, if it’s a good book I can have a problem putting it down. I don’t have insomnia nearly as much now that I don’t work and worry about getting enough sleep to function at work which is a vicious circle ….it takes the pressure off knowing I can sleep in. Frustrating re the Lego.

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      1. My experience with LEGO models tells me 25 leftover pieces isn’t a concern, as long as they are tiny pieces. LEGO throws a few extras in each bag because those little ones are so easy to lose. On the other hand, anything the size of a traditional LEGO brick or bigger would suggest I left something off the model. That would not be good! I expect a few more leftovers out of Bag 10 (which has yet to be opened, of course).

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    2. I’ve tried reading as well, and it works as long as I stay in bed. Were I to get up and sit on the couch I think I’d wake up even more. The old adage “different strokes for different folks” is apparent in the handful of comments so far. Whatever works for you!

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  2. My go-to ‘bore me back to sleep’ is to make sure every muscle is relaxed. I start with my eye muscles and tell one muscle group at a time to chill out.

    Glad you got your LEGO sorted out without having to depart from your dump the bag into a pile. Heaven forbid you would have to sort by shape and colour!

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    1. I’ve read about the muscle relaxation technique and it seems popular. Must take concentration though! Yes, shape/colour sorting is not my LEGO modus operandi. Jigsaw puzzles maybe 🙂

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  3. Nice job on the fountain! I’ve been away so long, I don’t know if I saw anything between this and the announcement that it was the next build! Also, those sleep techniques befuddle me because they require active thinking. Maybe not the last one quite so much, but the word play ones seem like they would keep my brain moving rather than resting.

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    1. To each their own, right? As I told Amusives above, a few pages of a book can do the trick as long as I stay in bed. Anything getting me out from under the covers only wakes the body more. Thanks for chiming in, Ilsa! Hope all is progressing well with the books (those that are published and those still under construction 🙂 )

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  4. Dave, I hate waking up in the middle of the night and not falling back to sleep. That has happened to me a couple of nights this week as I’ve not walked since last Saturday due to the bad weather. Even though I shoveled snow a few times, just walking out to the car to run it and coming back inside doesn’t exactly wear you out. The cure for sleepless nights is to eat some natural peanut butter a few hours before going to bed as the ingredients in peanut butter, coupled with some carb-laden delights like whole grain Triscuits (Hint of Sea Salt – yes, we both like them), will help you get your ZZZZZs. Peanut butter has magnesium and tryptophan, both which will calm you. It is safe to have up to two tablespoons of peanut butter and remember natural peanut butter is best. The build looks challenging – that’s a lot of pieces to have left!

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    1. Peanut butter! That’s a new one, and I’ll think to try it one of these nights. If it makes the difference between waking up or getting an uninterrupted night’s sleep, I’ll buy a dozen jars 🙂

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  5. I have used all the back to sleep techniques mentioned in your post and comments. I soothe my youngest grandchild back to sleep with the Amusives method. If I have slept more than five hours, I know I am not getting back to sleep and start my day. In college I would read my history textbook and fall asleep immediately. Same with any textbook in law school. Even if I did not want to sleep!

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    1. It’s a good point about “five hours”. I do best with seven or eight waking up consistently at 7am, but if it’s more like 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning, watch out. Getting that last bit of sleep can be virtually impossible.

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  6. Nothing worse than not being able to fall back asleep in the middle of the night! I’ve got a book recommendation for you: I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. It is Divinci Code-esque but a real page turner! Fair warming it’s pretty long.

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    1. Thank you! Great timing too, as I’ll be looking for a new read shortly. Hopefully one that moves along faster than this one 😦

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  7. Great job on the Lego. I recently got a Lego Santa Sleigh and had a handful of small pieces left over.

    and I’m one of those annoying people who never has trouble getting back to sleep … sorry.

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  8. Oh no, having to redo a section. Great analogy with IKEA. I had built something once and put a big piece in backwards, they are nightmares to try and dis-assemble. Great job on Trevi. Time to pop out the champagne. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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  9. I can attest that the worst plan for getting back to sleep is to start scrolling on your phone. Ask me how I know.

    Amusive’s plan is a good one, but my various muscle groups don’t seem to be as compliant as hers are.

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    1. I admit to not having tried the muscle relaxation technique. Maybe like the word games the idea is to get the brain focused on something simple, and the next thing you know it’s all zzzzzz’s.

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