The Perfect Sleep Game

In the perfect sleep game, instead of trying to fall asleep, simply describe to yourself the characteristics of "the perfect sleep."

For me, for example, the perfect sleep would begin with a a half hour of describing "the perfect sleep to myself," of playing "the perfect sleep" game. As I played this game, describing to myself the perfect sleep, I would gradually become more relaxed and drift off into sleep. I would have consumed alcohol in very moderate proportions before; not so much as to become dehydrated and disturb my sleep. At about 11:30 I would be asleep. I would not be "dead to the world," but in another kind of life, alert in some dimension as though I was actually asleep. I would be neither too hot nor too cold. I would feel, as I was sleeping, that I was resolving some problem, but rather effortlessly. The problem would be that of being tired. Sleep would be refreshing. My dreams would be intermittent and also oriented toward the resolution of problems. My mind would be alive, working in another dimension, but still at work in some sense. Then there would be a period of very deep sleep, in which the mind would essentially shut down for a period, say between 2 and 4 a.m. This would be pure rest. in the wee small hours. In the early morning hours before wakefulness, dreams might resume. I might have to get up and pee, but without really fully waking up. Sleep would resume quickly. Dreaming would become more active, and oriented toward the coming day.

Wakefulness would arrive gradually. There would be no particular pressure about waking up, no nervousness about the day to come. I would probably have to pee again, but this would be a relief rather than a burden. I'd probably waken with an erection even in the absence of overtly sexual thoughts. The radio would come on at about the time that I anticipated it. Some shallow sleep, of low but pleasant quality, might ensue. There would be pleasant tension between the pleasure of remaining half-dormant and of gaining gradually in altertness. A sense that the problems of the night have been resolved.

Every night that one plays "The Perfect Sleep" one might refine the definition of what the perfect sleep might entail, rather than repeating one's definition verbatim.

Next in "Games for Insomniacs": "Pornographic Novel.'