French author Marie Darrieussecq writes in her 2023 memoir Sleepless: “The world is divided into those who can sleep and those who can’t.”
It’s a big call. But insomnia is a well-recorded preoccupation in history. It includes difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep, and comes with daytime distress and anxiety.
There are many, varied reasons why people have insomnia. These include biological changes as we age or because of our hormones, physical or mental health issues, medicines we take, as well as how and where we live and work.
Sleep deprivation is a