I met a guy from pharma who told me about a bunch of cool breakthroughs in sleep medications: mostly we may be on the cusp of a new Vegovi, but in this case it's a drug for narcolepsy. I suggested that these two things are not exactly the same, given that obesity is a global epidemic and narcolepsy is quite rare. He countered that the drug's mode of action could also be used for insomnia; similar to the Post-it note invented someone is trying to create the strongest glue in the world.
Anyway, along the way, I discovered a test for narcolepsy type 1, which involves putting you in a room with zero stimulation—nothing to read, no one to talk to, perfect silence, perfect temperature—and they calculate how long it will take you to fall asleep. Anything less than eight minutes means you're a narcoleptic. But the average for a person who has no complaints in this area at all is 22 minutes. I was completely incredulous. This is a seizure of consciousness, about the same as in a domestic cat. Bored? Go to bed. Even a dog will have to look for something to eat first.
Apparently, I spread this alarming statistic throughout the city, and most people had more questions, such as: what room is this? What color is the room? Does it have a chair and is it comfortable? Not to mention a chair, what kind of bully can sleep without a bed?
I also discovered cataplexy, which can involve falling asleep after strong emotions, not necessarily bad ones (laughing too much is a trigger), and felt strongly about this. Sometimes I fall asleep on the phone just because I'm glad the phone came.
In short, science has achieved a new miracle. It's only because we find each other so interesting that either of us doesn't sleep at all.
