Dream within a Dream...

Not to, er, sound a note of alarm or anything, but you’ll notice roosters are nowhere to be found on this list. That’s because roosters will (and do) ‘cock a doodle doo all night long, if they’re awake. Trust me. I know this to be true after spending a long, sleepless night at a small inn on a small Greek island in the middle of a brutally cold winter.

Now then.

Why can't I fall asleep? Will this new medication keep me up all night? Can I sleep off this cold? Despite decades of research, answers to these basic questions about one of our most essential bodily functions remains exceptionally difficult to answer. In fact, researchers still don't fully understand why we even sleep at all. In an effort to better understand the sleep-wake cycle and how it can go awry, researchers are taking a different approach that the traditional brain scans and sleep studies. They are using mathematics.

I don't know you, but I can bet while you're reading this, you're feeling tired. No, I don't have Santa's omnipotent powers, but according to the statistics, you're skimping on sleep. Nearly 60 percent of you log fewer than the seven to eight hours a night that's best for your brain and body, according to a Self.com poll, and more than 15 percent of you get by on fewer than six.