I thought I was the Queen of Bad Sleep... now I see I am not really alone.

I have trouble taking anything to make me sleep because of the "Hangover" effect it has the next day.

So I am often clicking around the dial on the DTV, looking for soething boring enough to lull me off to sleep. I seem to be too exhausted to actually get up and do anything about being awake... my body is made of lead in the middle of the night, and very resistant to becoming vertical for fear of, oh, logging in to TBD or something.

Let me know if you try the Dreamz,and how it goes. Usually, I need to start taking that soy estrogen stuff when my sleep gets outta wack to get me back to level.... I guess I'll start that tonight again.

Dreamz sounded good, especially the chocolate flavor, but I read the nutritional info and it's 100 calories. I was thinking about melatonin in pill form?

Ah, insomnia. I’ve had many a sleepless night pondering this.

There are a number of things that you should do about sleeplessness.

1) Set up a routine. Start getting ready for sleep an hour or so before you are want to get to sleep. Try to do the same things as much as possible. Do NOT exercise or eat anything in that last hour. If you must drink anything, make sure it has absolutely no caffeine or any other stimulant. (Warm milk – yech – generally has a good effect as does a warm bath or shower. If you know any good relaxation mechanisms, this is a good time to utilize them.

2) Try and get exercise during the day (but not more than 90 minutes or so before bed). Not only is this good for your body generally but it will help you become more relaxed and will help you sleep deeper.

3) Things you should NOT do.

* Watch TV. While it can be a soporific, the change in sound levels and flickering light will, more often than not keep you up or, worse, wake you up. Radio/iPods can work (but have disadvantages) You CAN read a book but it should generally be light reading – nothing heavy

* Drink alcohol. While nominally a relaxant, it will, more often that not, keep you up

* Do computer work (or any other work, for that matter) closer than an hour or so before you get into bed.

* Use your bedroom for anything other than sleep as much as possible (Sex is okay, if you can get it)

4) Don’t worry about not sleeping; it’s going to happen As we get older, our bodies lose the ability to produce the chemical that helps keep us asleep so we tend to sleep for shorter periods and not as deeply (exercise helps with this). If you find you can’t sleep, the worst thing you can do is lay there and fret about it. Change position, regulate your breathing and, if you find you can’t sleep, get yourself out of bed (and out of the bedroom) and do something until your sleep cycle kicks in again (this can take as long as an hour). Again, try not to eat or drink; reading helps, here.

5) On a similar note, external factors, beyond your control, will sometimes affect your sleep (stress for the day, family problems, etc). Do the best you can. In my case, I find that my sleep is quite often interrupted during the periods of a full moon (No, I don’t howl and my hands don’t get hairy because of that). I don’t even have to know there is a full moon. But it happens.

6) Consult your doctor. Sleep medication can be helpful, provided you take it strictly according to instructions. I often find that Ambien, taken once a month or so, can be quite helpful is resetting my sleep cycle. Don’t take anything too regularly. Even Tylenol.Excedrin PM can do bad things to your body if taken too regularly. Your doctor may even prescribe a sleep clinic for you

One should note that a recent theory of insomnia is that, for most people, we get more sleep than we think we are getting. We tend to remember those times when we are up (our sleep cycles bring us too close to consciousness) and, as a result, we think we are getting less sleep than we actually are and, as a result, feel tired. (They think Ambien helps in this regard by making us forget that we were actually up)

But there will undoubtedly still be times when you just can’t sleep (Hopefully, the above will minimize these), if my experience is anything to go by. Do the best you can. Trying some of the above should help minimize some of the more insidiousness effects. And if that doesn’t work, give me a call; chances are, I’ll be up, as well.

Thank you Nick.

Thanks this is a good summary of what my sleep specialist says. I have another tip, I learned from my father, and verified with my neuropsychiatrist, if you really, really can't get to sleep one night - get up and stay up - yes all night and all the next day (no naps) and go to bed that night at your normal time. It should reset your cicadian clock and you should be able to sleep, if not do it a 2nd night, if that doesn't work you may need more help.

Also sometimes sleep problems can be caused by real physical problems, so if it lasts for any length of time make sure your doctor knows, and get a complete physical. If there is something wrong getting treatment for it may help your sleep.

I think something we may be missing here is that some sleep deprivation that happens during this time is due to night sweats.

So additional suggestions would be keeping the house cool and wearing night clothes that dry easily.

Zumbadeb

I too, suffer from episodes of insomnia

and have taken the occasional Excedrin

PM, and Ambien but have found that a 3

mg. pill of Melatonin taken an hour before bedtime helps me sleep better and

with less grogginess than the other medications. Happy ZZZZZ's