I take melatonin, magnesium and PM tylenol generic....my grandson has autism and he is given melatonin to help him sleep..

Right now I am having an issue with pillows and finding one that works for me. I sleep on my side so only use a very small corner of my pillow. I toss and turn constantly, all night long. My hands go numb. My sister in law recently gave me a memory foam pillow with the dip in the middle. I tried it and it was too hard but then the next night I put my own pillow on top of it and it lifted my neck enough so my head wasn't resting on my shoulder and it also helped with the numbness in my hands which I know is carpal tunnel. When I finally do get settled I sleep deeply. I start off my sleep listening to podcasts, and like a bedtime story they lull me to sleep once I get comfortable. I go through spurts where I may not sleep for days, not caused by worrying or my brain working overtime. I just can't sleep. One time, this was many years ago I didn't sleep for 2 weeks and my sister hauled me to the Doctor who prescribed a narcotic. No way would I take it and never have taken a prescribed sleeping pill. Unless I am sick with the flu or a cold I rarely take a nap during the day. I have a container of CALM and should make a point of drinking some every day because it is helpful and the body needs magnesium

Lavender is good, I put a few drops of lavender oil on a cotton pad every night before I go to bed and put it in a small custard dish on my night table

Advil, it relaxes me. I think magnesium helps with my legs that ache at night.

Going outside and hiking through the great outdoors, the beach, or working in the yard seems to put me to sleep. I don't if it's the sun, the excercise, the wind or the noise. I sleep good.

Pillows are difficult. I used to love cheap dacron pillows that one could squish into any shape. They only lasted a few years, but they were cheap. :) They don't make them anymore! Now everything is "hypoallergenic", which means its treated with a poison that I'm allergic to. I've tried some of the higher end pillows that use silver instead, or other mechanical methods, but none of them have been comfortable. I can't sleep on foam.

I finally made peace with buckwheat hulls. I had a cherrystone neck pillow which was great for headaches, but not meant to be slept on, which led me down that path. You have to toast the pillow in sunlight if it gets damp, and it can make its own dust (controlled by covers) and over time the hulls get polished and compacted. You can just fill up the pillow, but I find that it's also slidier by then and I want a new pillow. It's the ultimate in malleability, however, so switching from side to back is easy.

I like feather-pillow .. the quality-one doesn't leak out feathers to poke your skin. Feather pillow lasts forever, and it flattens out & yet firm at the same time to support your head. One can fluff it up easily. Prior to posting this thread, I check for "good sleep" in Houzz/gardenweb and women report better sleep with progesterone cream. I haven't tried it, since I sleep great with magnesium supplement. I researched on progesterone cream for a family member who has acne, body hair, PMS, and heavy bleeding ... Didn't know that it helps menopausal women with sleep. Below is a thread on how progesterone cream helps with sleep:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2451878/sleeping-problems?n=42

I take melatonin every night. No depression. I use a magnesium complex capsule (oxide, citrate, & aspartate).

I sleep mostly on my back, and after years of wanting nothing but down pillows (and often being restless in my sleep) I switched to a memory foam pillow designed for neck support. I don't think I move an inch until dawn, when I usually switch to a down pillow and change position.

I can't sleep with cold feet, so I love my electric foot warmer. It goes under the bottom sheet and covers the foot of the bed. I preheat it, and turn it off when I turn off the light.

Usually no caffeine all day. No chocolate after supper.

I posted here recently about homemade turmeric chai tea making me fall asleep during the day until I learned turmeric and cardamom are both considered sleep aids. Now I often have a cup of this tea three hours before bed.

I used to lie in bed for hours unable to get to sleep. That was when I was in a very stressful part of my life. Now I have no stress and I have no problem sleeping! I like a soft mattress and a feather pillow. I gave up caffeine a few years ago and I find no sugar at night helps as well. But what really knocks me out is exercise! If I've had a busy day with a long walk and maybe some weight training I am beat by bedtime and I fall asleep within minutes.

I retired!

Feather pillows, absolute quiet and dark, melatonin, and magnesium. All of these really do work for me. Except for a recent period of insomnia due to anxiety, I am a "good sleeper." However, I have not been able to wake up later than about 4 a.m. for years now. I am such a morning person! Of course that means that I can't typically stay up very late. I really wish I could keep more "normal" hours and at least make it through the 10:00 p.m. news!

My problem is just the opposite. I can't stay awake. If I watch tv or am on the computer very long at night, or read a book, I fall asleep....even when I don't want to.

Magnesium really helped my sleep for the past decade. Most of our tap water are high in calcium, due to calcium hydroxide added to deodorize tap water, and to prevent pipes from corroding. Plus calcium isn't filtered out of our water, like magnesium. I get calcium deposits in my pots, shower head, which I clean with vinegar. I stopped calcium supplement when chest-x-rays showed calcium spots, plus my blood test showed high calcium. From below site, I calculated a negative value for magnesium in my Chicagoland hard-well water, pH above 8.5

BEST SITE ON LOW MAGNESIUM LEVELS IN TAP WATER OF CITIES:

http://www.mgwater.com/mgrank.shtml

http://magnesiumeducation.com/magnesium-in-drinking-water

"Multiply the calcium concentration in ppm by 2.5. Subtract this number from “hardness.” Divide the result by 4.1. Do not be too surprised if you come up with a negative magnesium value. Mg stand for magnesium. Ca stand for calcium:

Chicago IL 11.1 Mg 35.2 Ca hardness 143.7

Honolulu HI 6 to 23 Mg 9 to 26 Ca no hardness

Dallas, TX 3.8 Mg 51 Ca hardness 134

The other pertinent fact is that in both 1962 and 2000, in all cities except Honolulu, the calcium is much higher than the magnesium. It is interesting to note that Hawaii has traditionally had one of the lowest rates of heart disease death of all 50 United States."

Along with the supplements I posted above I use an almost flat pillow..propping up my head gives me a headache and hurting neck...if I'm somewhere where I don't have my "flat" pillow I fold up a couple of towels and use that.

Cool room/open windows for fresh air, including summer. Turn the AC off, unless it's very humid, and get a table fan and put in front of an open window and get an exhaust fan to put in a window on the opposite side of the room. Open only one window, behind the table fan. The exhaust fan will pull air across the room, and it works amazingly well and you still have fresh air; only wool and 100% cotton on the bed, including the mattress pad; exercise/physical activity, definitely!; taking a hot-as-you-can-stand shower just before getting into bed. The steam and heat open your pores and get all the histamines out; chamomile tea.

Yes, a cool even cold-ish room is very important to my sleep. I sleep best when it is cold in the room and I have several cozy layers of covers on. Even during a frigid MN winter I keep the bedroom window open a bit. Funny, though, I can't sleep if my feet are cold, so I wear light socks to bed year round. Finally, after years of having a cat (or two) I have a hard time sleeping unless my cats are settled around me in bed, including the one who likes to sleep on my head.

I'm like you Cassandra: COLD room. I also sleep with the windows open a crack in the dead of winter (MA). The heating vents in my bedroom are closed. Fortunately there are no water pipes in any wall in my BR! And while I have no pets of my own, I'm a dog sitter, and I sleep best where there is that "lump" (or two, or three, or four, and sometimes five!) squished into my side or down at my feet, or, as one Welsh springer spaniel likes, on my head. The "cold" dogs crawl under the duvet with me for warmth.

I rarely have an issue with falling asleep. If something is bothering me, or I am pondering something, it can keep me awake. Trick I learned years ago is to be aware of your mouth. Unclench your jaw, take your tongue off the roof of your mouth, and once that is done, start relaxing from the feet up.

I love going to yoga classes, wish I lived closer to town, I would go three of four nights a week. I find it teaches one to let go of the crap, to relax, stop and smell the roses. I repeat those lessons as well, on the nights I can't sleep.

I am also outside in the fresh air for hours at a time, almost everyday, and I think that helps as well.

I really think us "Northerners" are so acclimated to the cold that our bodies crave it on some level. I am increasingly miserable in the heat as I get older and so grateful for our usually brisk MN weather! Garrison Keillor read a poem a couple of weeks ago on his radio show about how a walk in the bracing cold solves just about every ill including mental fog. I have to look that poem up. It really resonated with me!

That and salt water! Lol.

Agree entirely with you. When I was a kid, we had a second home in New Hampshire. The kids' bedroom was up stairs and was not finished. We called it "The unfinished room". It had no heat and the nails from the roofing came through into the room. In the winter, we'd awake in the morning and the tips of the nails would be covered with frost. We slept in those flannel sleeping bags with the red lining with the cowgirls on it. Lol. Toasty warm and snug as bugs in a rug. Slept like the deal, just my nose sticking out. Loved it. I cannot sleep in a hot and stuffy room, no fresh air.

There's a scene in the Laura Ingalls Wilder book, "The Long Winter," where the girls wake up in the unfinished upstairs room with inches of snow on them. Pa had to come up and shovel them off before they got out of bed. . or something like that :) Ah, the good old days!

I have no problems with a sleep number bed. I read a few minutes then sleep good thru the night. I like a cool room though. I also used their pillow .

I need to make myself real tired throughout the day to get decent sleep... Or else I toss and turn and I wake up all through the night... :-/ And I still have many nights like that... I'm going take some time and read all posts in this thread and get some ideas...

I have to have my mind clear of all problems, at ease. It helps to have the room a little chilly. I've read 10 degrees below normal....for you is best. Then I work out an hour, 5-6 X a week, so I've done something physical. 2 hours before going to bed we drink a mug of tea, so we're not hungry. An hour before, I bore myself to death on the computer giving repetitious awards in a photo group or reading a book. I sleep in a loose T-shirt or tank top so I don't feel constricted.

I sleep just as well when camping or in a hotel room as I do at home, so I can't credit my bed mattress, sheets or pillow.

Some mentioned a fan. I keep a fan going all the time...winter and summer. A few nights ago, had some stormy weather, and the electricity went off. I woke up....still and silent....then I couldn't go back to sleep. I turned on my pocket radio....that helped a little but without the fan...even with the windows open, I couldn't go back to sleep. Fortunately, within a couple of hours, they had it back on.

Hi Marilyn_c: I sleep with a fan on too, blowing on my legs .. I like my room to be cold, below 60 degree is best (I'm in zone 5a). I had my menopause last year .. still sleep well if the right food is eaten & getting magnesium before bed. Found that soy milk blocks the absorption of magnesium & other vitamins for sleep. When I was pregnant (40) I drank lots of cow milk per doc's order .. slept well. When my kid was a toddler, I switched to soy milk .. I was getting tired of taking Acidophilus supplements for my lactose-intolerance. I went through many years of lousy sleep with soy milk. Not until I switched back to cow milk, that's when I sleep well.

Last night I slept through the night with the most vivid dreams. I took CALM (magnesium citrate) before bed, plus a snack of cow milk & TOTAL cereal (with 100% of all vitamins), plus some grapefruit. Grapefruit doubles the effect of nutrients & medications and makes the effect LINGERS LONGER IN ONE'S BLOODSTREAM. Dr. Oz wrote in his books: cut medications by 1/4 if you take that along with grapefruit. Decade ago I took melatonin, and ate grapefruit before bed. I was sleepy for the next 48 hours !!

Magnesium helps with sleep, but I don't endorse CALM (magnesium citrate). I use it since we try to finish what we bought. My kid broke out in rash from it, so I try to finish the bottle. I also break out in rash (this is the many times that it happens), so I'm pretty sure it's the citric acid. I still remember the question I got wrong on my microbiology class in college: "Allergic reaction happens after REPEATED EXPOSURE, rather the 1st time."

I take magnesium oxide for decades and have zero rash. I also eat beans & nuts (both high in magnesium) with zero problems.

Google "citric acid and rash" and I found treato.com with 426 discussions on rash with citric acid. Citric acid is in many products: juice, shampoo. laundry detergent. Lots of people report breaking it in rash with Tide detergent (has citric acid & many chemicals). What people don't realize is "citric acid is a genetically modified mutant
strain of Aspergillus niger (black mold) is then used to ferment the corn sugar
syrup into citric acid over the course of several days ... Citric Acid and Sodium
Benzoate “Fizz-ion”: A Carcinogenic Contaminate the Soda Companies Have Known
About For Decades."

http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/sour-deception-citric-acid-comes-gmo-black-mold-fruit.html

I'm pretty lucky - I fall asleep within 2 minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

Some things that help: I read just a little bit before bed. If I read too long, I have trouble falling asleep because I can't get comfortable like I do when I first get into bed. I'm a side sleeper, so while I'm reading I stay on one side only, and after I'm done, I flip over to the other side. This gives me a new, cool, comfy spot and a new "side" and I can fall asleep right away. It's a bit hard to explain.

I'm also caffeine sensitive and will have more difficulties when I drink caffeine, especially in the afternoon/evening. It used to not affect me but that's changed as I get older.

I'm a vegetarian and eat pretty healthy. I take vitamin D, and some other supplements occasionally like B vitamins.

Thanks, Chi83, you are a great testimony to eating vegan: sleeping well. I grew up in a tropical country: lots of fruits & veggies & beans, a near-vegan diet: we didn't have any dairy, just a tiny amount of meat (for flavoring). I had such vivid dreams as a kid & slept well. I still remember in details the dreams I had as a child .. I'm in my early 50's now. Then we came to America: less fruits & veggies (more meat & dairy) .. not much vivid dreams as teenager nor adult, until I eat more magnesium-rich foods.

I keep a diary of what I eat, how well I sleep, vivid dreams or not. Fish oil supplement helps with vivid dreams, but the best sleep still comes through high magnesium foods like veggies & beans & nuts. I keep track of how well I nap: If I have rice & beans or seaweed, I nap easily. But if I have a snack of white bread & cheese, or yogurt, I can't nap. Too much calcium, both from my hard-well-water, and from dairy: tense me up.

One of the syndrome of excess calcium is insomnia & anxiety. Magnesium is just the opposite: it relaxes & more blood flow to the brain, thus more vivid dreams. My best sleep & vivid dreams were with spinach, RAW salad, and esp. bone-marrow-both. Bone is high in magnesium. We move away from meat to bone-marrow-soup .. always sleep well with that approach ... better than fish-dinner even.

Here's an excerpt from National Institute of Health: "An adult body contains approximately 25 g magnesium, with 50% to 60% present in the bones and most of the rest in soft tissues [4]. Less than 1% of total magnesium is in blood serum" The site discussed how low-magnesium is a contributing factor to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases, and osteoporosis." http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/

Cooking Light magazine has a good slide-show: foods best for sleep and foods worse to sleep. The best-sleep group are: spinach, legumes, chicken (high in tryptophan), lentils. The worst-sleep group are: chocolate, fatty foods, spicy food, alcohol, and high-protein before bed-time. I disagree with their verdict that soybean is good for sleep. I speak from experience: I even make my own soymilk, and it doesn't help. 90% of soybeans in this country is genetically modified, so we import "organic soy" from China, loaded with pesticides. Soybean is known to interfere with the absorption of magnesium & other minerals. I used soy for years (both when young, and now older) ... and had the WORST sleep during those years.

http://www.cookinglight.com/healthy-living/health/foods-that-help-you-sleep/view-all

Below health website listed foods that hurt sleep: Mountain Dew (high in caffeine), cheeseburger, and spicy food. Foods that help with sleep: cherries, cow milk, fortified cereal, turkey, sweet potato, and banana. I agree with all, except for banana. Banana is in the same family as ragweed, and banana don't agree with my tummy, esp. before bedtime.

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20628881_9,00.html

I slept like a log as a child in a tropical country: drinking rain-water collected in large urns. Now my Chicagoland-tap water is high in calcium & low in magnesium, I wonder anyone in this forum drinks bottled water, and how's your sleep with that? Thanks in advance.

I can not speak highly enough of my solid Latex pillow, omg just so wonderful. I am a side sleeper so I get a bit firm to support my neck. Yes they are expensive but worth every penny. They last for years and years. They keep their shape. If you never tried a solid latex pillow do it! I don't care for the shredded ones just the highest quality solid latex.

And my new beautiful mattress is helping too. I finally had to retire and replace my all time favorite mattress, I like the new a lot but I just loved my old one it was the perfect softness / firmness. But it was breaking down and hurting my back so it had to go. The new one is much firmer and supportive.

I get restless leg really bad some nights and I can't sleep then.

I have slept on a solid latex pillow my entire life (except when I was in a crib, LOL) and have always loved them. I will be 60 this year. I hate fiberfill, kapok, or any other type of pillow and usually take mine with me when traveling. Just this month, I said goodbye to that pillow.

I don't have trouble sleeping, but for a couple of years now, I have woken with either head or neck aches. It can be quite expensive to buy pillow after pillow just to try, but I have to get some healing rest. My thought was that a bolster type pillow might work. All of them, even the ones that are flat on one side, making them a half circle, are too thick. My chiropractor told me that he doesn't use a pillow at all, but uses a very soft fleece blanket just lightly bunched up under his head, so I gave it a try. It worked beautifully, albeit with some drawbacks. The material doesn't breathe, so in our California spring, my face gets hot. And if I roll or move in bed, I have to move my "pile" of pillow and readjust it.

I finally found just what I was looking for. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a toddler's pillow, but that's what I found when I looked online for a thin pillow. This one is actually three pillows in one. It has three thin layers, each encased in fabric. They are memory foam. Two layers are flat, with some holes in them (I suppose for air circulation). The third is also thin, but has a very small portion for neck support (like a bolster). I used just the one with the bolster the first night, and then added one of the flat pieces the second night. SUCCESS! I've only used it about a week now, but my head and neck don't hurt when I wake up. I'm not crazy about the pillow case that comes with it, but I sewed one myself and I'm good to go. The pillow cost me just a bit over $15 at Amazon. My new favorite pillow

Thank you, donna and ravencajun for positive feedback on Latex. We plan on buying a Latex-topper to put on top of my kid's old mattress. We bought a memory-foam topper from Sam's club and HATED that, it's like sinking mud ... made me dizzy. I can't stand thick pillow. I like mine thin and flat, that's why I use a feather pillow: it flattens down where your head rests.

Lots of Amazon customers report magnesium helps with their restless leg syndrome. I find the cheap magnesium oxide JUST AS EFFECTIVE as the more expensive ones, and found a research to back that up. Walgreens sells the most recommended magnesium that doesn't cause diarrhea: Doctor's Best magnesium glycinate .. but I haven't tried that.

Here are some excerpt from below link on how magnesium helps with sleep & restless leg: " Carolyn Dean, MD says, “.. magnesium relaxes muscles and nerves. Furthermore, calcium causes contraction in skeletal muscle fibers, and magnesium causes relaxation. When there is too much calcium and insufficient magnesium inside a cell, you can get sustained muscle contraction: twitches, spasms, and even convulsions."

"The Romanian Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry did biochemical and neurological tests on 10 RLS sufferers and found a pattern of insomnia similar to other forms of insomnia caused by magnesium deficiency. (2)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota found that magnesium plays a key role in the body chemistry that regulates sleep. They found that people who suffer from long-term insomnia or who have abnormal brain waves during sleep are often deficient in magnesium."

http://www.healthline.com/health/restless-leg-syndrome/link-between-magnesium-and-rls

I have been taking a supplement my rheumatology doctor recommended it is a calcium and magnesium combo pill. I think maybe I am getting too much calcium and not enough magnesium, I stopped taking it a little while ago and my legs are not as bad. I am going to get just magnesium. I too have a lot of calcium deposits in my lungs, every time I have x-rays it shows up, and my bone scans have been pretty good.

I do take the Hyland leg cramp pills which do contain magnesium, some time they help.

I have to have a very cool room too with lots of air movement. I have 3 fans going in the bedroom at night. The ceiling fan is always on, I have a large tall fan on a stand and a small table fan on a table by my side of the bed that oscillates and blows right over me. I can not sleep with out a fan blowing over me. I have one set up in the rv too. If I travel I have a small fan that goes in my suitcase. My dad was the same way. When the power goes out at night I can not sleep.

Our tap water is treated with calcium hydroxide, or hydrated lime. Lime is used to sanitize, deodorize, and raise the pH of tap water to suppress fungal and bacterial growth. My hard-well water has pH over 8.5, and the town next to me has pH at 8.9, very alkaline. I store tap water in the basement for years, zero mold. I get calcium whitish deposit on pots when I boil water. See below link on the minerals content in tap water across the nation. I'm in North Chicago, with a calcium of 37, magnesium of 1, and sodium of 8 in my tap water.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/tbl2/

Last night I drank lots of tap-water, plus used cow milk & cereal before bedtime. Was so tense I couldn't sleep until I took my magnesium. Cow milk has 300 mg of calcium per cup, plus the calcium from my tap water, and I exceeded the RDA of 1,000 mg of calcium per day. Calcium is everywhere: oranges & fruits, veggies, beans, all dairy products & fortified cereals & pasta. It's harder to get magnesium: I have to buy greens like spinach & kale, or eat nothing but brown rice, beans, and nuts. Plus too much calcium interferes with the absorption of magnesium and iron.

While looking at the above government link, I notice San Jose, CA, has high sodium (Na) in their tap. My sister there has high blood pressure, while my blood pressure is low. But my risk of heart attack is higher than her, see below excerpt from WebMD "Higher doses of calcium increase the chance of having serious side effects. Some recent research also suggests that doses over the recommended daily requirement of 1000-1300 mg daily for most adults might increase the chance of heart attack. "

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-781-CALCIUM.aspx?activeIngredientId=781&activeIngredientName=CALCIUM

Also see http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/256791.php

"The finding came from a new study by a team of experts led by Qian Xiao, from the National Institutes of Health, and supports prior research from last year which indicated that calcium supplements are linked to a higher risk of heart attack."

UPDATE: Bought 3 different brands of cherry juice to see if they help with sleep. Trader's Joe cherry juice is too sour & bitter. Indian Summer cherry juice is too watery. Neither of these help with my sleep. The cherry juice that helped was one from nearby Wisconsin (1 hour away) ... its FRESHNESS was what worked. In my experience, FRESH grapefruit works better than STALE cherry juice that was cooked (pasteurized), which destroyed the enzymes. Here's an excerpt from below link: http://bembu.com/foods-to-help-you-sleep

2. Grapefruit

Eating grapefruit before bed has been an old wives’ tale for years, but as it turns out there’s a reason why this has been known to help sleep. It contains lycopene, an antioxidant in the body that has been shown to improve the way you sleep. Grapefruit can also help you lose weight if needed."

I also notice that fish oil is very effective for good sleep. I took NOW fish oil, since it's the cheapest & best rated on Amazon, only 14 cents. I'm switching to NOW liquid fish oil, lemon flavor, since I get more Omega-3 per price-unit. Fish oil works when magnesium and cherry juice failed. There's days that I could not sleep, and fish oil did the job when nothing worked.

I'm going to try cod-liver oil, to see if that helps with sleep & better skin & my vitamin D deficiency. Will report the result later. Both vitamin A and D is known to help with hormonal imbalance.

I take melatonin and small sip of Nyquil. Thing that really helps me is the small stuffed animal I got a long time ago. It's a cat that is like a mini pillow. After DH and I split up I needed to hug something

Now I can't sleep without it.

SamKaren Your resident dj

Exercise daily,hot shower before bed, and no napping. I work long hours,12 hour night shifts,and do not have trouble sleeping all day long. 8-9 hours with no issue.

If I am somehow uncomfortable and need to take something, I will take a nighttime version before bed, but I do not need it normally. Right now its pollen allergies or aching feet and legs from my long walking routine. Sometimes it's a pretty bad headache. So if its bothering me enough to keep me awake,I will take advil PM,pain reliever and antihistamine in one. But for a normal day, I am happy that I do not have trouble sleeping.

I think finding out what exactly is keeping you up is the key to finding out how to fix it.

Well, four years after the original post, I find that listening to podcasts at night relaxes me and I sleep well. Otherwise, Ambien. Did we have podcasts four years ago? Probably.

I have trouble staying awake. When I go to bed, if I watch tv or try to read, within minutes I fall asleep.

I'm stressed! I'm not pandemic material. :0) So....stop watching the news or getting updates of any kind. Think of my pet, a cat. He's doing joyful crooked tail runs through the house. Batting crumpled paper, thrilled I'm paying attention to him. He slept inbetween DH & I last night, by our heads....all sprawled out...warm and cozy....happy. Having us all together and cuddled up.....aaaahhhhh........peaceful....I slept really well.