I had gone to bed at midnight. It was now two in the morning. I was still awake, stressed thinking about my book, which — ironically — is about happiness. Trying to unwind, I opened my laptop and started watching clips from The Daily Show. An ad for a popular sleep aid came on that I thought was still part of the satire; while the first 20 seconds promised me that if I took it, I could go right to sleep, for the next 40 seconds a soothing voice told me that if I took the pill, I would also risk seizure, sudden heart attack, hallucinations, extreme levels of anger, swallowing my tongue, and might commit suicide. After an ad like that, I knew if I took that pill I’d be much too stressed about the possible side effects to ever fall asleep.