I wonder if other changes, not just sleep, but quick changes to environment can create this effect as well.
Your description regarding the feeling you had walking your dogs is very similar to something which happened to me once just as I was leaving work, as I was walking out of my office.
As I walked out the door, everything felt very crisp, my mind felt lighter, and it was as if my senses were working at 200%. At that time I believe I experienced that same "clarity regarding anything I examined in my mind" you described. I thought about several things and knew in that moment exactly what needed to be done in each of them, with what felt like more than absolute certainty. It only lasted a few minutes, and had left by the time I returned home.
It's never happened again. When I think back on that day, I can almost feel it, like I'm grasping at that sense of clarity, but it always remains out of reach.
I had a very similar experience walking out of a movie theater after watching a particularly good movie this year. I walked around the main street in my town and it saw it from completely new eyes, and was able to appreciate everything about it without any prior opinions or memories about all the restaurants and shops on the block. It was surreal.
I also was able to, just like you said, become aware of a couple of large life problems that I had been unconsciously ignoring, and felt such a serene sense of "absolute certainty" about what I wanted to do about them
If I could just have that state 3-4 times a year! It was genuinely magical
> I thought about several things and knew in that moment exactly what needed to be done in each of them, with what felt like more than absolute certainty.
Your description regarding the feeling you had walking your dogs is very similar to something which happened to me once just as I was leaving work, as I was walking out of my office.
As I walked out the door, everything felt very crisp, my mind felt lighter, and it was as if my senses were working at 200%. At that time I believe I experienced that same "clarity regarding anything I examined in my mind" you described. I thought about several things and knew in that moment exactly what needed to be done in each of them, with what felt like more than absolute certainty. It only lasted a few minutes, and had left by the time I returned home.
It's never happened again. When I think back on that day, I can almost feel it, like I'm grasping at that sense of clarity, but it always remains out of reach.