The freely hovering attentiveness of the analyst at work is part of a continuum of consciousness ranging between vigilance and sleep. In this paper I have made an attempt to align the phenomena of sleepiness and sleeping in the analyst within this continuum, and to cite observations and impressions that can throw light upon these as both states of nonspecific narcissistic depletion and specific countertransference phenomena involving sympathetic and reciprocal identifications of the analyst with and toward his patient. Attention to these phenomena is clinically rewarding and potentially enhancing to our understanding of the working of the analyzing instrument.