What do you do to unwind after chess study?

I'm facing a problem when I try and study chess books that are real involved, with lots of diagrams and lines of notation (so basically every book that is more advanced than beginner). I find that that night, and sometimes even for days afterward my mind is so preoccupied with chess that I can't sleep at all even though I'm exhausted. Even throughout the day my mind feels hazy and continually conjures a board and pieces in various positions.

 Tonight I'm looking for some simple, browser based arcade game or something, hoping to distract my mind so I can sleep. What methods do you use to get your mind back to normal when it starts obsessing over chess? I mean to the point that it interferes with sleep and concentration.

When Kramnik played Leko for the World Championship, he won game 1 with 2 rooks against Leko's queen. The game went on for a while and was obviously a very tough battle, but Kramnik did prevail in the end. When asked the next day about the game, Kramnik said he could not sleep because his mind was too preoccupied with the game. He said he was up til 4 am "untangling" his rooks in his mind.

It can be very frustrating when the mind locks in on something. For me, playing with my kids (even a game of chess) can take my mind off the previous chess topic.

But for mindless internet fun i highly suggest Zuma.

the only problem I have with the news is they report bad news which is not good to watch!(I know,it real life)

hahahaha well

I'll tell you the truth, yes, it is a little impossible, it is a might obsessive,

yes, you catch yourself conjuring midight setups, dissolve imaginary exchanges as your head lies on the pillow, frustration with how soon the morning will come, yet somehow there they are, these insipid pieces, intruding with their threats and defenses...

In truth, you like it and you cannot have it any other way. The only reason your mind so eagerly descends into pure chess board is because it longs to be good at this game, and it is devoting % of brain processing power to that end. It's doing exactly what you actually want it to - dissect what chess is and lay it on the table before you.

You cannot unwind because you want it too much. Do not pretend otherwise; do not make these posts that claim you wish to unwind when your heart says the opposite. 

 Well that is true but only to an extent. I want to improve, but not if it means sacrificing my well being and health. Besides, they say sleep is vital to memory and learning... that's why staying up all night studying for a test is counter productive. So if I devote time to studying, then suffer insomnia for several nights because of it, I will learn and memorize at a slower rate.

I dance. Focusing on physical activity and the body helps to take my mind off stuff for a while.

If it's midweek, and the nightclubs haven't got much on offer, I dance in trendy Club My Living Room. It's a very exclusive club, where I always feel welcome, I know the DJ and it's as if the music holds a mirror to my tastes.

 Gave zuma a try... that is pretty mindless fun. Still dreading when I attempt to sleep tonight though, feeling that lingering obsessiveness and compulsion to unravel the mysteries on the board.

yoshtodd -

Lies, Yoshioka! If you meant that you'd be in bed right now, resting up. You want to improve, and little does the articulate part of your conscious awknowledge, but you're quite ready to make concessions in your health for this. You can rationalize well, but you're lying to yourself in practice.

I'll play with my left hand instead, so my brain doesn't know what's going on.

This is wad i do

play gunz, exercise, play chess with a lousy player OR watch a funny anime

chess play.

Ok thats only 5% of the time. But i was pure math faculty - used to being locked on a reaseach problem for years - and the whole peer group was in the same boat - i learnt ways to handle it by peer-osmosis - i do a zillion different things but it is automatic - i don't follow a system.

When you need to focus on chess for >8 hours/day recovery time is very important. What I am doing between tournament games is to talk or write about my game, then lay down for a few minutes or go for a brisk walk if time allows. At home time is never an issue so I always opt for exercise. Interval training (pushing your heartrate to its peak, then letting it fall into the recovery zone) and meditation would be a killer quick-recovery combo.

For most pure mathematicians at least, occasional tranquillisers are a must. And we sleep with pen and writing pad at hand (even years after retirement) because often ideas come and suddenly interrupt sleep, and if you dont write them down they are lost.. this is the only aspect btw that the film Proof doesnt mention - otherwise it covers all the upsides and downsides of good puremath depts.

So after chess study also I sometimes need tranqs to sleep - but not clonazepam  (rivotril) because it interferes with material sinking in while you sleep. Nitrazepam, diazepam, lorazepam,  zopiclone are all okay; so are the almost-universally-illegal flunitrazepam [rohypnol] and methaqualone [quaalude].

I dont advice any cannabis-related substance -- they do worse than interfering with the info sinking in - they distort the information in 'aethetic' ways, so later all you may be convinced of a line because your memory says so - but the line had been amended before it reaches long-term memory!

In short, chess and grass do not mix. I keep them separate.