Me to. I read when you can't sleep you are suppose to get up. Me with my broken arm just makes it worse because the tossing and turning makes it ache. I play games and sometimes sit here for 2 hours. Sometimes I take an allergy pill, but you need to take it a couple of hours before you go to bed.

Warm milk

Boring book.

Darn socks.

Start knitting a dishcloth.

Ask the dog to tell you a boring story.

Make a note of what to put in the first chapter of story of your life book.

Begin writing the first chapter of the story of your life book.

Sort mail.

Try to remember where you spent that $2.37 that the amount in your wallet was short of the balance that your account book showed, last week.

Make grocery list - or of garden seeds needed.

You're welcome.

ole joyful

LOL.i am the same way......but i have a restaurant, so I just go over and start the day early....I usually go in around 4 cuz I open at 6, and that gives me lotsa time to clean, or bake extras, or do paperwork! LOL
But have used reading to help me get to sleep at nite..laying in a dark room does not work for me! LOL! If I cant sleep, I cant sleep I have also gotten up and did some crafting, but my craft room is right beside hubbys bedroom, so it has to be a quiet craft

http://debfrompa.proboards.com/index.cgi?/

Since there is a job involved, you might not be able to do what I do.

Go to bed LATE. Very late. I am so tired, when I go to bed, I actually sleep.

Ever once in a while when I go to bed earlier, I end up waking up shortly after midnight and the night is over.

Moni

I am usually up at least twice during the night as my dog always wants to go out. Sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep after being up. Usually get online and also watch television. I sometimes think I want something to eat, but pass up on that. I fell asleep last evening way too early and woke up at 7:00 p.m. I was still very sleepy but managed to wait until at least 10:00 before I fell asleep again. Some nights I am sleepier than others.
I am usually up by 6:00.

Sue

I keep a book and small book light next to the bed--if I wake up, I can lie in bed reading until I'm dozy enough to go back to sleep without waking my husband.

But the really effective remedy is lavender--I always keep a bit of dried lavender, tied into a sachet, with a loop of ribbon long enough to slip over my wrist next to the bed. That way, if I have a sleepless night, I slid on my lavender bracelet, curl up with my hand near my face (nose, actually), give the lavender sachet a few squeezes to release the fragrance and lie still until it relaxes me into sleep. Lavender is one of the best, natural ways I've found to induce sleep. And almost no one is allergic to the fragrance of lavender.

When I worked midnight shift I had a lot of trouble sleeping during the day. That lasted almost 23 years. The first few months I stayed in bed and fought it, but it didn't do any good. Finally I just got up and got busy. I was a room mother at my dd's school and I cleaned house a lot. I felt like a zombie for most of those 23 years, but I had a mighty clean house and I knew all the students in my dd's school classes.
I realize that's not much help, but getting busy was far better to me than trying unsuccessfully to go back to sleep. I did find I had an easier time going back to sleep with the tv on though.

Linda

I only sleep about 6 hours each night. When I wake up, I get up...even if it is 4:00 a.m. I actually love mornings, so it works for me! I sometimes take a 30-minute power nap in the afternoon, but not always.

Well, I finished up some paperwork, checked Facebook and the KT, then went and laid back in bed. Finally went back to sleep eventualy, maybe 3:30 or 4. I don't have a good book to read right now. I like the lavender suggestion, azzalea. It was fun reading what other people do. Thanks!

If it's early and I cannot sleep (like before midnight), I take a Tylenol PM, especially if I have to get up early. If it's not early, I do what most of you do--read, warm milk, herbal tea, etc. Sometimes I tell myself I'm not sleeping, but I am resting my body and that's good. I stretch, lay flat on my back and try to zone out. I focus on listening to the quiet or any noises I hear.

Azzalea--about the lavender: How long does it last? I saw some in a little fabric bag at a nursery marked down 70%, but I know it has been sitting on the shelf for months and wasn't sure how much longer the scent would last. Where do you get it?

I stay up until midnight or 1am and get up at 7am nearly every day. Some may call it insomnia, I call it normal (for me). Sometimes the lack of a decent night's sleep catches up with me. I'm still not tired at night but don't quite function well during the day. When that happens, I take 25mg of an antihistamine around 9pm or 10pm and am sound asleep within an hour.

Jodi-

Socks, go back to the nursery and buy yourself a plant or two. The price is well worth it.

I don't remember if you live in a house or apartment, but the main thing is, to not let it get to wet.

Put pebbles all around it, to keep from getting mud and wet splashed back up when it rains.

Plant it a little high, on a bit of a mount. It can take full sun, in fact, lots of sun/light.

Moni

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Melatonin. It's a natural hormone that we produce less of as we get older. I got interested in it after meeting a vigorous, energetic 92-year-old who swears by it.

Some of my friends take 1.5 to 3 mg. every night routinely, but I wait and see if I can get to sleep on my own first. Probably because of fibromyalgia, I have a very small window of opportunity to fall asleep, and if I stay up past that (sometimes the window comes very early in the evening) I can't fall asleep for hours.

I keep a bottle of 3 mg. Melatonion lozenges on my night table, and if I can't sleep I dissolve one in my mouth. I can't say it works 100% of the time, but it's effective often enough that I wouldn't want to be without it. Melatonin also comes in a timed-release tablet for people who have trouble staying asleep.

If you know me, you know I don't put anything into my body that I haven't researched.

Susan

dh calls me vampira...

Put a TV in your bedroom, facing your bed. Lie down, put anything on TV, close your eyes. If you're like me, you'll be out within 5 minutes. If your TV has a snooze function, use it. Otherwise you may wake up at 4 am during an infommercial.

I've heard melatonin causes dreams/nightmares. Never wanted to try it, but I know people who take it every night.

I have a 37 inch TV in my bedroom, it's my best TV watch time. I got sleepy and turned it off, I'll have to check out the snooze option. I wanted a bowl of cheerios last night but I was out of milk. That always helps me go back to sleep.

I have mild asthma, so melatonin isn't for me. I'll give the lavender a try!

My MD has prescribed a low-dose (5 mg) Ambien for me. I take one about one out of four nights -- if I can't GET to sleep in two or three hours, or if I am awake more than an hour. I have had no 'morning after' feelings using this. If I take it in the middle of the night, it lasts about four hours. I'm a person who does best with eight, even nine hours of sleep -- a lifelong thing.

When I'm awake at night I feel like a meerkat: ALERT! My mind won't stop racing, touching on all manner of things -- mostly nothing especially worrying or urgent.

Ron would kill me if I had the TV on when he was trying to sleep! He is a very light sleeper. I can't even really put on a tiny book light when he is asleep. I usually get up and go into another room.

It's all job related, though. I just wish I could detach emotionally from my job. It's hard when you do home health and hospice, though. Add a crazy supervisor to the sadness and difficult patients that come with the job and the sum equals insomnia! I think it's time to find a new job but that could take months.

I had one of those nights last night where I woke up at 3:30AM and couldn't get back to sleep for over an 1 1/2 hours. I just lay there perfectly still so as not to wake up DH. Also I can't get up and read or I wake him up and the house is cold. We turn off the heat at night and it can get down to 62 deg. I try not to think too much about things I have to do the next day, because if I do I can't get back to sleep at all. Think pleasant thoughts, it really does help.

When DH was away I would take the dog to bed with me. I don't know what it is, but having her next to me lulls me to sleep. I can't do that with DH in the bed. His rule, no dogs allowed. Darn! (I sleep better with her then him any day. LOL)
Clare

if I really can't sleep I sit in the rocking chair with the TV on and crochet I have the option of going to sleep in th morning and waking up around 1 if I want

buy a tape of a really boring insurance seminar to listen to.

Take a swig of NyQuil...works for me.

It happens. Don't let it get to you. One of the worst things to do is to obsess over something. Start thinking about too much gets you moving more and perks you up. Either doing something boring or the like will help you doze off.

Oh, and joyful... "Darn socks"??? What good is it to curse your clothing???