Anyone else do this?

[deacon Mark]

I am a notoriously light sleeper and wake up often during the night. I don't get up but just stay and drift back to sleep. Sometimes I start a Rosary but never get through one before I go back to sleep. The other thing I do that I think has great benefits is to practice in my head. So, I take a tune and start playing the changes in my head with a count and go through the whole tune. Amazingly I have been doing this much more as I keep adding memorized tunes to the repertoire. I even take cut of the tune I heard from someone playing and start imaging I am playing. I tell you I think I really has help both memorizing tunes and even playing. Not to mentioned I usually fall back to sleep pretty quick but focused. Anyone else have this crazy habit?

[joe2758]

I'm in a phrase collecting phase right now...lots and lots of memorization. Sometimes I'll go through those mentally as I fall asleep. I don't think I could improvise though

[CliffR]

I did this for the first time a few days ago when I woke up in the morning, mentally rehearsing all the notes and fingerings for a George Benson piece I was working on.

[AllanAllen]

I usually think through whatever tune I'm working on. I visualize bebop heads on the fretboard or think through chord names if I'm working changes.

It does not help me sleep, I overall, have very poor sleep habits.

[eman]

I'm a terrible sleeper, I always wake up around 3 am and that's about all the sleep I get, I lay on the bed sometimes planning this dey ahead

[JazzPadd]

I use visualization, too, mentally going through a tune or a phrase in real time. It certainly does help.

[Jimmy blue note]

In the period of wind down at the end of the day, it's a meditative and essential part of getting to sleep for me to take specific things I'm working on and conceptualize the process of going from analysis (left brain) to imagining how it translates to sound moving over the fingerboard (right brain) without the instrument creating muscle memory bias. It's quite helpful in synaptic connexion.
My circadian cycle gets me up at about 3AM and if I don't go back to sleep at that point, it opens me up to one of the most creative points of my day. I don't fight it. I go to the other room where I have a solid body and plug in a set of ear buds and practice with an emphasis on sound quality and conceptual flow. It's during this time that I actually play my best; without any conscious effort to "be productive" for anyone else. It's meditative and it's also a part of getting a really good night's sleep because I sleep really deeply after this 'til I wake up at the start of the day. Ths period is 90 minutes.

Normal sleep cycles are in 90 minute cycles and if I fight this by trying to get back to sleep, my brain fights it.
It's an essential part of "thinking with engagement" 24 hours a day. It aids in creative thinking and connection of different functions that make up music. The "Night block" is when it comes together and gets filed away in a solid form.
If I've played a set of music that evening, or gone to see live music, I tend to sleep soundly without a break.

[Alder Statesman]

I tried guided sleep meditations to no avail.

This cured my insomnia in ten minutes.

[Mick-7]

I am a notoriously light sleeper and wake up often during the night. I don't get up but just stay and drift back to sleep. Sometimes I start a Rosary but never get through one before I go back to sleep. The other thing I do that I think has great benefits is to practice in my head. So, I take a tune and start playing the changes in my head with a count and go through the whole tune. Amazingly I have been doing this much more as I keep adding memorized tunes to the repertoire. I even take cut of the tune I heard from someone playing and start imaging I am playing. I tell you I think I really has help both memorizing tunes and even playing. Not to mentioned I usually fall back to sleep pretty quick but focused. Anyone else have this crazy habit?

That practice is only crazy if you want to go back to sleep, since it's liable to keep you awake. Visualization/audiation is a very practical tool, numerous studies have shown that those who combine creative visualization with physical practice will progress faster than those who engage in physical practice alone. Howard Roberts recommends it in his Praxis books.