is there a difference between being awake and being asleep

maybe it is called stream of conscious because thoughts just sort of float around like a leaf on a stream so why is it that my thoughts sometimes go into swirly mode like water down a drain but instead of getting sucked away i cant sleep be because the swirling wont stop and then just when i am making progress on the verge of figuring something out or doing something important this drowning feeling comes over me and i am out like a light but lights use electricity and we know that electricity and water dont mix they even made a commercial about it now if someone could figure out how to make a ground fault interrupter for peoples thoughts maybe that is what pharmaceutical drugs are suppose to do but they mess people up dulling all that is good and magnifying the undesirable parts so mass shootings take place which should draw attention to the fact that drugs fry brains just like another commercial used to show but now they dont show it anymore because people might link it to pharmaceutical drugs like they should as if the mass killing arent enough to draw attention to the fact but everything in the media is smoke and mirrors to keep you from seeing the truth by getting you to focus on something else instead of what needs to be considered and taken seriously is that the same as looking through a glass darkly does that mean i am wrapped up in conspiracy theories and i am paranoid but some people say just because you are paranoid doesnt mean they arent out to get you and are some people the same as the they i refer too maybe the solution is meditation and trying to empty my brain of all thought by focusing on just one thing like figuring out who they are and is you me but then i just fall asleep like everyone else who needs to wake up