Natural insomnia fixes?

[Claire]

I am also one who has no problem falling asleep if I go to bed early, but cannot stay asleep, and spend hours and hours awake in the wee hours of the morning, only to fall asleep when I'd like to be up and about, getting things done. Now that I am no longer gainfully employed, this isn't that big of a deal. If I stay awake until 11 or later, I won't fall asleep, sometimes at all, all night. If I go to bed with a book at 9, I'll fall asleep within an hour and at least get 4 or 5 hours of sleep before I awake in the wee hours. Booze is a convenient short term fix, and I resort to it more often than I should (mostly on weekends). To be honest with you, I've found that not worrying about getting enough sleep is the very best solution. Easy for me to say, without a job or kids to deal with in the morning. But even when I was in the workforce, I found that it was much better to spend those waking hours doing something relaxing, preferably something I could fall asleep at (reading or writing -- not on a computer, mind you, a book or notebook so you can fall asleep doing it).

Interestingly enough, quite often that hour or so of sleep I get at sunrise (for some reason my system shuts down right about then) is loaded with dreams. So much for booze being bad for REM, because those dreams are there whether I use booze, tea, or soup as a sleep aid (I find some starchy soup is really a sopophoric). I often will awake, finding I've slept maybe 45 minutes, but have had hours and hours ... or even days ... of dreams.

 

[Claire]

Oh, to address the drug issue, I was in the hospital once in my 20s. My surgeon insisted I needed to sleep, period, and prescribed some sleep aid (I have no idea what drug it was). I used it for two weeks, faithfully as prescribed, then found when the Rx ran out that I couldn't sleep at all. I had to go to work, ten hour days 5/wk, plus half days otherwise to pay the medical bills. AND I COULD NOT SLEEP because of withdrawal from the drug. I'm not going in that direction again if I can help it. Insomnia isn't that terrible, I can live with it. I can't live with chemically-induced sleeping and waking hours AND the bills that come with it.

 

[apple]

i just started taking melatonin. and it seems to be helping which makes me greatful

lemon balm tea helps as well. it helps with nerves. only just have a small cup before bed as youdont want to beup weeing all night

 

[licia]

I slept til 5:15 this morning - quite a difference from the last few days when I awoke about 2:30 and couldn't go back to sleep for a couple of hours. I was quite busy yesterday and that may have made a difference. After church, my dd came over and we swam and played in the pool. then my sil came over when he finished his golf game. We made dinner and my gd and gs came over. I had got an ice cream cake to celebrate gs's stitches being taken out of his finger. He was so sweet. He said "mema, thank you for getting me an ice cream cake. I know you did it because I was good when the stitches came out." They swam for quite a while after dinner until almost 7:30 when we had a bit of rain. By the time I got tidied up, a load of laundry going, packed for my water class today, read the paper, it was 10:30. I was quite worn. If I hadn't had to go to the bathroom, I'd probably have kept sleeping.

 

[TATTRAT]

There is a natural chemical in celery that is a natural seditive. Sounds silly, but I have tried it and it worked. I'm not quite sure what the chemical is, but I'm sure there is more info on it on holistic sites and such.

the drugs to induce sleep seem to have more neggs then positives and can lead to what is basically an additction, and as forementioned, long lasting side effects/withdrawl, can be worse then when the insomnia started...
I am sympathetic to the issue, I seem to sleep like4 hours a day, AT the MOST...and it begins to take its toll after a while.

sometimes, a good stiff drink will help, but you don't wanna get in that habbit either.