Insomnia has been a recurring problem with me. Lately I have been sleeping alright, but seeing that I sleep during the day (I work nights), it's not always easy to get good sleep. I rely a lot on sleep aids like melatonin, valerian, and diphenhydramine. But I can get by on relatively little sleep. It just starts to catch up to me after a while.
if you can't get a prescription for it (or don't want to) then things like excersise and changing up your diet can help. i find the best thing is to leave all your curtains open, preferably face yourself in front of the window when your asleep- the rise of the sun will help to regulate your sleeping pattern, and return a bit of equilibrium to your body clock. i used to have a job where i worked nights, long hours and ridiculously exhausting, really messed my sleeping pattern up and gave me a touch of insomnia, i found that technique really helped me when i quit and wanted to get back on a regular sleep schedule. also: don't do anything in your bed asides from sleep (train your brain to associate bed with sleep, not a place you read, use a laptop, whatever- i have trouble with this one in winter because bed is the only warm place in this house, in fact, trying to avoid the bedroom in general for non-sleeping activities) if you can't sleep, GET UP. don't lie there trying to sleep, go do something else, then try again (lying in bed trying to go to sleep is counter-productive, it just makes you tense and irritated). sex is good, floods the brain with all sorts of relaxing chemicals to help you nod off. imagine its the morning and you have to get up (you won't want to) don't watch TV or read, that stimulates the brain too much, listen to relaxing music, eat a turkey or chicken sandwich with some warm milk anyhoo, hope some of that proves helpful
