ABSTRACT
HISTORY Fitzgerald succinctly captured the feelings of many chronic insomnia sufferers who labor nightly to achieve the solace and restoration of a good night’s sleep. History is replete with examples of the tragedies and anguish wrought as a result of insomnia. In one of the earliest known pieces of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the epic hero and ruler of the first known civilization is beset by sleeplessness (1). In the biblical tale of Job, God inflicts insomnia on Job, causing him to lament: “When I lie down, I say, ‘when shall I arise, and the night be gone?’ and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.”
