You know when it comes to falling asleep, we'd like to think that you just put on your PJs,

hop into bed, flip off the light, and boom, you're asleep.

But that's not the way it works, right?

Falling asleep is a little bit more like landing a plane.

You've just got to gradually bring the brain and the body down,

sort of from that altitude of wakefulness onto the hard, safe landing pad of sleep at night.

That's Matthew Walker.

He's a sleep researcher at UC Berkeley and the author of Why We Sleep.

And I told him about this little technique I use to wind down at night.

I think of it as like channeling my inner Carl Sagan.

I say to myself, Alison, you are just recycled stardust and an ever-expanding universe.

Staring at a blue dot, yeah.

Exactly.

And in a weird way, it calms me down.

I'm floating, I'm completely detached, but my way isn't the only way.

Hi, so I have a less, uh, existential, uh, big, conflicting way of getting to sleep in

Alison does.

That's our producer, Megan Kane.

She has a different approach.

It's so silly, but I just have this little stick and it's infused with lavender.

And every night I just put like a little dab on my temples and a little under my neck.

And I swear to God, it makes me fall asleep like instantly.

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