For reasons that I don’t really want to go into, I’ve had to resort to sleeping tablets. Nothing major, just herbal things to help me drop off and stay asleep. I’ve used them before, many years ago, and found they really help when I’m struggling to get enough shut-eye.

I popped the first one last night “30-60 minutes before bedtime” as instructed, but felt the effects in minutes. Except I couldn’t have. The tablet had barely reached my stomach, yet I felt tired purely because of placebo. My mind had already decided this tablet was going to make me sleepy, so exaggerated its effects.

It’s remarkable how much the placebo effect has on our lives. Every single human trial has to account for the fact your brain can fix things for you. Kind of makes me want to just take sugar pills instead and see if that puts me to sleep too.

Thankfully I went to sleep, and despite waking a couple of times went straight back to sleep and had a deep dream filled few hours for the first time in a long time.