By Leah McClellan

Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies/Which busy care draws in the brains of men;/Therefore thou sleep’st so sound. —William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar

Some of us are convinced that we can train our bodies to function just fine on four or five hours of sleep. I’ve even known people who think it’s a sign of weakness, laziness, or a character defect if we need more sleep than that.

Medical experts agree that we need seven to nine hours of sleep to be at our best physically, mentally, and emotionally.

But some of us have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep. I know I have.

I’ve tossed and turned. I think of this and that, I have mental conversations with this person or that one, and I replay things that happened or envision events that will. Good things, not... More...