We’ve long been told to count sheep to nod off to sleep. Where in the world did this adage come from, and more importantly, does it work?

The 2023 Drowsy Driving Survey from the National Sleep Foundation explored 1,124 American teens’ attitudes and behaviors about drowsy driving, finding that one in six drove while drowsy.

Take Shrek, for example, a merino sheep in New Zealand who became a global celebrity in 2005. After escaping his flock, he lived alone for six years until he emerged, weighed down under 60 pounds ...