Sleeping Soundly by Using a Different Part of Your Brain

I have spent most of my career as a salaryman working in sales.

The job of a salesperson involves standing between the company and the client to coordinate matters, which creates a highly stressful environment where you often cannot please everyone.

Because I go about my daily life carrying several unresolved, hanging issues, I find myself thinking about those worries whenever I have a spare moment.

If this goes too far, it can take a toll on your mental health, so the key to maintaining peace of mind is to share your worries with your boss or team, or get advice from people you trust, so you don't bottle everything up.

However, even with that said, if there are worries or things that need to be solved, your mind often becomes filled with those matters, and it is common to reach bedtime with your brain unnecessarily activated.

I am basically the type who is resistant to caffeine and can drink coffee before bed without issue, but if I keep my so-called 'work brain' activated, I have trouble falling asleep, or I might suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to get back to sleep.

Lack of sleep amplifies physical and mental distress, so some kind of solution is necessary for this.

To overcome that situation (i.e., to sleep soundly), there is something I have been doing for over five or six years now. That is playing through shogi game records.

Some of you might think, 'That came out of nowhere,' so let me explain a little: playing through game records is a method of studying shogi by replaying the moves of a game.

A game record is a log of the moves made in a match. For example, I reproduce the title matches of someone like Triple Crown Sota Fujii, move by move, in the order they were played.

I mainly use the Japan Shogi Association app for the latest records, as it displays the day's matches in real-time. It also includes commentary, which is extremely educational. (Though it costs 500 yen a month...)

It has become my daily routine to play through these game records before bed, and night after night, I face the board, moving the shogi pieces while savoring each move and trying to predict the next one.

Once I seriously play through one or two games, I start to feel like I am using the part of my brain that I didn't use during the day. The image is that I use the left side of my brain for work during the day, and use the remaining half for playing through game records.

As I play through the records, I get the feeling that my entire brain is becoming fatigued, and eventually, an intense drowsiness hits me. When that happens, the chance for a deep sleep has arrived. I then roll into bed and sleep soundly until morning.

By the way, what is interesting about playing through game records?

There are parts of professional game records where the meaning of each move is beyond an amateur's understanding, but strangely, by playing them out with your own hands, you can feel the flow of the moves.

When I set up the pieces to follow a game by my favorite professional shogi player, I find myself feeling the highs and lows of the board while imagining the player's state of mind.

The unique sense of immersion is pleasant, and time just flies by.

Come to think of it, I was hospitalized for tests for about two weeks several years ago, and at that time, I brought the complete collection of Yoshiharu Habu's games and a mini shogi board into my hospital room, and I spent all my free time replaying Mr. Habu's games.

During that time, I was away from work, and I think it was a truly luxurious period.

My example might not be very helpful, but I encourage everyone to use a different part of your brain than you do in your daily life to get some quality sleep!