Restoring Sleep Predictability

At 1:40AM I arose.  Not only awake, but not the least bit sleepy, maybe about 3–4 hours after lights out.  Trying to return to sleep based on the clock would be a lost cause.  I went downstairs to the kitchen, being a little thirsty as well, poured half a cup of raspberry-lime seltzer, then tackled some dishes.  Mostly mugs that had accumulated but also my tall tangerine Swarthmore Latte cup and the beer glass that I bought myself on a tour of the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville quite a number of years ago.  I returned the dry mugs done that afternoon to the closet, repositioned the ones that needed to dry more completely, returned a couple of dinner plates to the closet, and washed another load to include the Latte cup and beer glass, though I no longer had room to wash the porcelain mug with the seltzer and find a drying spot for it in my milchig rack.

Maybe TV would be better.  Netflix had a documentary on cats, amusing maybe, entertaining or enlightening, didn't seem so.  And The World According to Briggs on YouTube.  Looked at live TV.   By now the show times were within a few minutes of transitioning to the 3AM listings.  Another try at sleep seemed possible, so I shut down TV.  On returning to bed, I checked email, for which there was none.  Something taboo for me between 11PM and 5:30AM.  A personal transgression.  Cell phone off.  And successful return to sleep.  Biological clock nudge at 7AM.  Upright at 7:30.

Despite the wee hours, while really not very long, I did not feel sleepy in any way.  Everyone is familiar with restorative naps.  I wonder if there also might be a parallel restorative wakefulness, a break from sleep and the subconscious mental reframing it entails.  Despite the discontinuous nature of last night, I do not feel sleep-deprived.  Yet, as a matter of health, longer duration sleep seems more desirable than last night's discontinuous segments, so I'll see what the sages of cyberspace offer as remedies.