To sleep well, you should strive to engage and challenge your mind during the day. Strong mental activity will tire your brain, and you'll likely sleep better as a result.
If you've ever tried to play a musical instrument with any degree of competence, you know how challenging it can be. It requires total concentration and using many areas of your brain (and body) to the fullest. This level of mental activity should be your goal if you are not sleeping well.
Playing virtually any musical instrument will challenge you, but some are more challenging than others. And each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
The more challenging the musical instrument is to play is more you will be stimulated mentally and the more sleep benefits you'll likely get from it. However, you don't want an instrument that is so difficult for you that you give up.
Below is a chart showing some aspects of popular musical instruments. "Challenging" refers to how much time and mental effort you must invest to learn to play with competence. "Expensive" refers to its cost. "Maintenance" refers to how often it needs to be tuned. And "loudness" refers to the instrument's level of volume and if it could be potentially bothersome to others you live with or next to.
Instrument |
Challenging |
Expensive |
Maintenance |
Loudness |
| Guitar | Medium | Medium | High | High-Low |
| Saxophone | High | High | Medium | Medium |
| Piano | Low-Medium | Medium-High | Low | Medium |
| Drums | Low | Medium-High | Low | High |
| Violin | Medium | Medium-High | High | Low-Medium |
| Trumpet | Medium | Medium | Low-Medium | Medium-High |
| Flute | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Harmonica | Easy | Low | Low | Low-High |
| Trombone | Easy-Medium | Medium | Low | Medium-High |
| Clarinet | Medium | Medium | Low-Medium | Medium |
| Harp | Low-Medium | Medium-High | High | Low-Medium |
If you have trouble sleeping and your mind is not challenged enough during the day, try learning a musical instrument. And, no, you are never too old to learn how to play and to discover the world of music.