As the economy sinks, insomnia increases and America searches for a good night’s sleep

Chris Dalto is an affable fellow, a happily married father of two and a lawyer-turned-financial planner. Normally, he sleeps like a baby.

In July, researchers led by Robert Stickgold, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, reported that a full eight hours’ sleep after learning a motor task boosts performance by 20 percent the next day.

Even a one-hour nap can improve scores on a simple visual task, others reported in May.

Mary Rourke, a 55-year old teacher from Salem, N.H., used to nod off all the time as a child, but people just shrugged and said, “Oh, she must be very tired,” she recalls.