It’s 3am and, once again, I’m lying wide awake in bed unable to go back to sleep. Instead, my mind is whirring down a familiar doom spiral, barbed with the usual worries about money, work and my receding hairline. Compounding this unease, I’m also now catastrophising about the impact of this lack of sleep on the day ahead. Will I still make my work deadline? Catch that interstate flight? Muster enough adrenalin to stumble through the day’s engagements in a semi-plausible manner?

I’m hardly alone in battling these restless bouts. Almost half of Australians have to navigate some sleep-related problem. But what I long for in such circumstances is an “off switch” for my brain, a magical button that allows my racing thoughts to power down, while lulling my body into a quiet state of oblivion. The good news is that, in the past month, I think I’ve finally found one.