Our bodies require sleep in order to maintain proper function and health. In fact, we are programmed to sleep each night as a means of restoring our bodies and minds. Two interacting systems—the internal biological clock and the sleep-wake homeostat—largely determine the timing of our transitions from wakefulness to sleep and vice versa. These two factors also explain why, under normal conditions, we typically stay awake during the day and sleep at night.

The factors contributing to everyone’s difficulty sleeping are multifactorial. A large portion is societally driven; everyone is juggling multiple duties where there aren’t enough hours of the day to accomplish everything, or those duties themselves require wakefulness during regular sleep time hours. Jobs, workloads, child-rearing, school, chores, and more. Then the stress of all those duties contributes to anxiety and mood disorders and other conditions that further worsen insomnia. There is also increasing evidence that our use of nocturnal lighting, particularly with modern devices like computer, smartphone, and television screens also mess with our natural circadian rhythm cycles, which further delays or eliminates sleep.

In the search for a better night sleep and more alert days people have resorted to taking sedatives or antihistamines that leave you feeling groggy, drowsy, nauseous, etc., but this is far from the only — or healthiest — choice.