Dr. Alok 'Dr. K' Kanojia

So melatonin can be helpful.

Definitely something you should talk to your doctor about.

Get evaluated for an insomnia disorder, circadian rhythm disorder.

There are all kinds of treatments for that.

You have a window per day in which it is easy to fall asleep.

If you miss that window, it is hard to fall asleep.

See, one of the biggest mistakes that we make is we assume that the more tired we are, the easier it is to fall asleep.

That's incorrect.

The more tired you are, it becomes harder to fall asleep until you reach a point of critical tiredness that is like passing out.

Do you all understand how subjectively falling asleep and passing out are different?

And have you noticed that

You can't pass out immediately after you would have fallen asleep.

There's always a big gap between falling asleep and being able to pass out.

Do you all get that?

These are two very different mechanisms.

And here's the big thing that people don't understand.

I learned this with my kids, by the way.

So your frontal lobes are responsible for controlling the other parts of your brain and suppressing the other parts of your brain.

So when you go to sleep, it actually requires willpower to go to sleep.

What do I mean by, I mean, willpower is a resource, not like you have to be like a stoic, like willpower dude, but like literally your brain requires energy to fall asleep because in order to fall asleep, you have to shut down the parts of your mind.