Doctors dismissed the problem as trivial, so she turned for advice to self-help books. But the remedies proposed—relaxation exercises, hypnotic CDs, melatonin—didn’t help much. Sleeping pills brought temporary relief, but psychotherapy didn’t do a dime’s worth of good for her sleep. At 40 she was a chronic insomniac, grabbing what little sleep she could and striving to be productive while feeling exhausted.