Tired of being awake: I couldn't get to sleep so I tried 11 popular insomia cures

In lockdown, insomnia has soared. Our tired, intrepid writer tried a range of remedies – including CBD, deep breathing and lettuce water

The quest for guaranteed nights of deep sleep led Emma Beddington to try 11 nighttime hacks

How did you sleep last night? Insomnia rates have soared during successive lockdowns : anyone would think facing a constant existential threat isn’t the ideal preparation for a refreshing eight hours. Suggested remedies abound – behavioural, pharmaceutical, nonsensical and bleeding obvious – and I have tried most of them.

Insomnia can be a competitive sport and I am not podium material; I’m a common or garden poor sleeper, rarely getting more than five hours a night (luxury, I hear the real insomniacs hissing in red-eyed fury), often less and sometimes, thankfully rarely, none. That is not exceptional. It’s not the stuff of insomnia memoirs , which do exist, but I refuse to read any in case they give my brain and body ideas. But it is wearing. On nights when sleep just isn’t happening, I’m filled with despair at the realisation that I will not get even a short break from being in my own head.