My doctor recommended melatonin. Before taking any supplement, discuss it with your physician.

Graywings, when I was in college I worked a job until 11, but I had to be up on the morning so I needed a quick wind-down. That relaxing from toe to top worked well for me. Note, I started at the toes and worked my way up, it seemed to make sense for me.

There's another technique that works, that involves breathing in through the nose slowly, hold, exhale through mouth, wait, repeat. There's something about the counts for each step. I saw it on the Internet "how to fall asleep in 30 seconds" so you know it's true lol. It does work for me, but I really do like my "word game".

I have heard that eating pistachios before bed helps as they are one of the most melatonin rich foods.

They are now on my shopping list!

I can sleep any time, anywhere if so inclined, so this has not been much of an issue for me. I have discovered that I don't sleep very soundly in the absence of any noise so there is always some background sound - radio tuned low, the TV, etc. Lights make no difference one way or the other :-)

My sister does have this problem from time to time and has found that a sleep aid sold by Costco - their Kirkland house brand - works well for her. The active ingredient is doxylamine succinate, the same product sold as Unisom, etc.

When I was a child protesting naps my DM would tell me I didn't have to sleep, "Just lie down and close your eyes and *rest*." (Of course, then I'd fall asleep.) I try that: Just *resting* here! zzzzz

I try deep breathing, lying on my back with my arms loosely at my sides, concentrating on *only* the breaths.

Then I take half a zolpidem. lol (Not after 3 a.m.) I may also take a Tylenol 500 mg. Sometimes my brain doesn't identify pain, but my body knows.

I need a cool, dark room and peace. I need the weight of some covers. I need to have had adequate physical activity during the day to require sleep... or just some *rest*.

Graywings, I forgot about that relaxation technique. When I was working I used it with pretty good success most of the time. I found that you really need to concentrate on relaxing every small thing you can, starting with your toes, and even small parts, like feet, ankles, calves, knees, etc. Just concentrating on something and shutting off the brain from whatever I was thinking about worked.

Like outside says, concentrating on something to shut off your brain. One trick is to picture a dot in the middle of your forehead and look at it until you fall asleep. It takes a tremendous amount of concentration to do this.

Another is deep breathing. Breathe in for a count of 5, hold it for a count of 4 then breathe out for a count of 7. Don't do this unless you are in bed, it causes some people to get dizzy.

Even with these, I still sometimes resort to a chug of liquid Benadryl. I can't take melatonin or the Advil nighttime as it causes me to be out of it the next day, but just a sip of children's benadryl is enough to put me out without a hangover in the morning.

My grandmother told me years aho, if you can't sleep, get up, get dressed and do some housework. Yes, Jim 1 had the same solution. It really does work. A few weeks aho, on a Sunday night, I got up, put on my clothes and organized my walk-in closet. I was so happy in the morning that my nightmare of a closet was now neat and passable! and I did sleep well for a few days after.

Jasdip, have you gone over to the apartment manager and spoken to him/her? It seems to me they'd be willing to shift the bulb a little to get the direct light out of your room. Man, that would drive me nuts! When it's warm you have to leave your window open, so light-blocking blinds won't do any good.

I get up and read or watch tv when I can't sleep. Dh is a VERY light sleeper so I can't do any more than that. My sister takes Advil when sleep eludes her. But lately, it's her darned cat who wakes her too early 'cause he wants out, right now!

I put on an audiobook I have listened to in the past. I swear it's just like someone telling you a well-loved bedtime story and it works every time. It only works for me with books I already know. Otherwise, I get all caught up in the story. :)

I wonder if more exercise would help? I know if I get out and get fresh air and move around a lot... I'm out that night.

I wonder if there's anything you can do with the mgmt of the other building and see if they can't swap out the fixture for a dark sky one so it doesn't shine in your window like that...

The one side effect that stayed with me after menopause was difficulty sleeping. I cannot have caffeine after noontime. I also get some help by taking two calcium and magnesium supplements with a vitamin C to help with absorption at bedtime. I used to take a Benedryl tablet, but I developed a cough from it. When DH used to travel, I found that if I had a warm bath, used a bath pillow to stretch out and relax, and read a romance story (nothing exciting) that I could get to bed and fall asleep quickly.

I always read when I go to bed and have the radio on low to "the Lounge" which is light music. I can go to sleep before the radio turns off.

But I tend to wake up often and have trouble going back to sleep.

Even the nights where I do my exercise regimes. I do cardio/weights etc 4 days/week plus walks with my little God-dog as I call him. Thursdays I'm generally beat, with 2 exercise classes that day plus walks, plus any errands. Even so, I woke up Thursday night.

Melatonin does squat for me. I bought a bottle and there they sit. I did get a prescription from the dr not long after hubby died to help. It's an anti-depressant, and we both know I'm not depressed, so she suggested to take 1/2 pill. One of the side-effects is that it helps with sleep. I take one of those periodically, not regularly at all, I have lots left. I don't want to be dependent on any pill. I did get up and take one at 12:30 when I woke up and laid there. It didn't help.

Where would I find an eye mask?

I stay in bed. I don't look at the clock. I keep my eyes shut and try not to move. I'm usually back to sleep within a half hour. Turning the brain off is hard. I never had this problem until maybe the last six months. For me it's stress. And of course, I never ever have a problem waking up during the night if I have the next day off.......

DH is snoring in 7 minutes!

Last night went to bed at midnight, fell asleep around 2am. Woke up at 5am.

Could not fall back to sleep. I find this happens when I have to set the alarm And get up early.

Does happen other days too.

Was hypnotized years ago and she talked me thru relaxing. Let it out, feel it going out your toes and fingers. Sometimes it works.

My yoga teacher recommends deep breathing - a full, slow deep breath every 3 minutes or so. Not one right after the other, just every little bit do another one.

And don't move. Get all warm and comfy and then just don't allow yourself to move.

"Where would I find an eye mask?"

You can get some nice sleep masks on Amazon. I got this one for myself, and the same thing in blue for my husband. The brand of these is Bedtime Bliss, but there are lots of different, but very similar masks on Amazon.

I have been an insomniac all my life. I told myself stories as a child. As an adult I started working out complicated problems like how to get rid of a body you got landed with (some evil group will suspect YOU) with increasing complications as forensic science has moved forward. I plot murders-the upshot of that being do not ever kill anyone because you will be found out, I get myself stuck on a island and have to survive-my favorite is one where it gets really cold. What would you do if everyone else disappeared. Would you chose a place and stockpile or move around? When I work out solutions I make new limits. I have a lot of weird skills which I get to imagine using. I eventually drift off. I don't let it worry me when I don't. Getting wound up about it doesn't help.

I do a crossword puzzle. Afterwards it makes me feel like I've accomplished something and soothes my mind. I usually fall asleep soon after I turn off the light.

Similar to word games, I go through my old workplace and try to remember everyone who worked in my department. Their name, their spouse, their kids. Some of it goes back to 1990, so I usually fall asleep before I finish.

Watch tv or read, if that doesn't work take a 1/2 a dose of NyQuil. Sleeplessness comes with widowhood.

I would speak to the management next door and explain your situation. I"m sure they'll be willing to redirect the light so it's not disturbing you. If they aren't receptive, talk to city hall and file a complaint.

Many localities have laws that govern nuisances. Lighting can be a nuisance and rob you of enjoyment of your home.

I live in the country but over the past 10yrs, more and more security lights on poles go up, people put two or three lights on their out buildings, line their driveways with a dozen pathway lights (I get the purpose, but still), and cell phone towers blink red or white in the distance all night. My neighbor below decided to start using an old streetlamp-like fixture in the middle of their back yard again with a very bright light bulb. I hate that light. But......it's their property.

Schoolhouse, I hear ya! When we first built our house, it was dark as all get out at night in our neighborhood. Almost zero light pollution. We enjoyed going out to watch meteor showers and the occasional sighting of the Space Station as it whizzed over.

I partly blame the demise of regular lightbulbs and some neighbors putting in CFL’s for outdoor lighting. Gah, I hate those! One neighbor, the least friendly of any of our neighbors, built 3 outbuildings and has outdoor CFL lights on every single corner. You can see those things a mile away. They aren’t just motion sensitive, but stay on all frigging night. It’s not like we have a property theft problem or anything, so I don’t get it. So much for totally dark nights. We have a few soft outdoor lights too but keep our timer set to shut them totally off no later than 9-10 pm.

I have a cd player in bed, and listen to novels on CD. Keeps me from reviewing my whole life at nite. Some nights it takes a hour or two, some nites just 10 minutes. Also have room darkening shades.

I toss and turn and tough it out. Sleep usually comes sooner or later. I get up at least three times a night to go the bathroom but usually have no problem.

I'm just on the other side of menopause and am having problems staying asleep. I fall asleep fairly easily, but don't remain asleep. I get plenty of exercise, and I've increased my magnesium intake recently. Melatonin very low dose doesn't do much, but if I increase the dose, I sometimes get nightmares (which I guess is a sign of deep sleep but I don't do well with nightmares).

Just this past week, a friend recently made me aware of the blue light emitted from screens (computer, phone and TV) and how it wrecks havoc with our natural circadian rhythm. It's actually quite detrimental to our health. So screen time before bed is definitely not a good idea.

Graywings, thanks for posting that link. When we were kids, my dad would have us do something similar he learned in the military.

My best trick for going to sleep is to listen to a podcast. It can't be just any podcast. I search for just the right one that will be interesting to me. Then I set the sleep timer to turn it off at the end. I'm asleep within ten minutes. Another thing I like to do is pretend I've won the lottery. I like to plan out how I will give the money away because I sure don't want to keep it. I have too many relatives who are financially clueless and they would be asking for money all the time. Some nights I am much more generous than others. And some nights I am much more controlling. I demand to see their bank statements and credit card statements every month. Other nights I just say here it is, have fun. And I never ever actually buy a lottery ticket.

I pretend it is morning, get up, make a pot of coffee, take the dog out, etc. Then get on the internet, read some news and other stuff, and am usually ready to go back to sleep in an hour or two.

Being unable to sleep is rare, but I would just pour myself a glass of wine.

I keep a bandana nearby because a neighbor's flood light shines in my eyes when I open the curtains, which I want to do when the weather is mild enough to open the window for fresh air. I tie the bandana around my eyes, kidnapping victim style.

When I have the tv on, I tune it to shows that are mostly narration so it's like someone reading you a bedtime story. Definitely nothing with sirens! For awhile there was an ad that would come on with someone's alarm clock going off in the ad...that was definitely a bad thing!

The other thing I used to try to do is mentally draw a block letter and then decide where the light was coming from and think about how I would shade the letter to make it look 3d. Then I would rotate the letter or shift the light to another direction and shade the letter in that position. It would seem to occupy my mind enough to keep it from getting overactive, and it was an activity that I didn't care about enough to keep me up.

But there are sometimes when I get in this horrible mental state where I so desire that sleep would come that I seem to keep myself awake watching for sleep...which of course never comes as I'm up waiting for it. That state will keep sleep from me for hours.

Last night for instance>>>>1am......I went looking for my cat, found him sleeping in the wingback chair & woke him up petting him. He jumped down, came to bed and cuddles in the crook of my arm. He purrs & stares at me.....I was asleep in minutes.

I hate it when that happens. Can't read in bed as it would disturb DH and don't want to go out to the LR because we turn off the heat at night and it is too cold. I just lay there and go over stories in my head either from a TV show or book I am reading. I usually drift off in a half hour to an hour. Sometimes I can't fall asleep and get up between 5-6AM. I feel terrible the next day.

I hung a towel over the screen door last night. I have the inside door open and the screen open at night to get more breeze. The light is on the wall opposite the bed.

Without the towel....

The light itself

Even if it were a motion light, it wouldn't be as bad, the parking lot doesn't go anywhere, just the apt. parking, so it's not like a bunch of people walk through.

I had the door closed part-way to cut down on the light.

Matthias, Iike the bandana idea too!

try a large piece of black poster board. The towel isn't doing it.

That's way too much light...it's like a dawn...no wonder you have trouble sleeping.

Eye shades are definitely in order. I wear them most of the summer as the sun coming in early a.m. wakes me up when the windows are open and the shades are up.

That light is outrageous, well beyond what should be considered reasonable. Not knowing your community, I don't know what alternatives you have. Eyeshades should help but you shouldn't have to resort to that.

Sleep medicine is a relatively new field. To become a sleep specialist, docs who have already completed a residency for a specialty do added time, in a fellowship to learn about various sleep disorders and how they can be treated. When I was having sleeping problems, over 20 years ago, I went to the sleep medicine clinic at one of our area's medical schools. I was diagnosed with having 2 different problems that interfere with normal sleep. Both are treatable and under their care since then for 20 years, I get restful sleep every night and rarely wake up before morning.

The difference between getting consistently restful sleep and not is huge and poor sleep adversely affects many areas of general health, including heart disease. Not just how you feel the next day. Anyone who suffers poor sleep should see a sleep doctor.

OP: blackout shade for the window.?

i listen to "white noise market" app. lots of different white noises to choose from... put me out within 10 mins.

my phone charges on my ihome and i bluetooth the app thru the ihome.

the App

I borrowed a girl-friend's eye mask to see if I can sleep. I hope I don't get claustrophobic, it will be weird having something over my face.

Damn I cleaned all the windows today, including that door. Now it will be really bright!!

They are NOT good neighbors!

Jasdip, I feel your pain. My neighbors have a floodlight on their house that lights up my bedroom. I’ve asked to please turn it off at night, since its on the side of the house and they don’t need it to see going in and out. Nope, they won’t. So, I use a mask just like the one pictured above,

if I can’t sleep, I listen to podcasts on my iPad. I love them. I used to listen to NPR, but there’s nothing but bad news all night. The podcasts are very entertaining . The only bad thing is I rarely hear the end because I relax and fall asleep.

im also careful to limit caffeine. None after 3 pm. Then if all else fails, I take an Ambien and I’m out like a light .

It's no wonder you're having trouble sleeping with that bright light shining into your bedroom. The management of the other building may not realize that it's so intrusive. Perhaps you could ask them to adjust it so that it doesn't shine so directly into you apt.

I rarely have trouble getting to sleep, but I sometimes hve trouble staying asleep and find myself awake in the wee hours. It doesn't happen very often now, but the last few years of my working life it was almost every night. I chalked it up to having work related things on my mind.

Anyway, what I did/do that works like a charm for me is to play a mental exercise. I'll pick something like places, foods, names, etc., and starting with the letter A think of all of the places/foods/names I can that start with A. When I can't think of anymore, I move to B and so on. Rarely do I get further than C or D before falling back to sleep.

An example of places could go something like Alaska, Arkansas, Amsterdam, Africa, Albuquerque and so on. I'm always amazed at how well it works as I would think it would stimulate my brain and make me more awake, but it seems to have the opposite effect.

I go very quietly to my happy place - my craft room. It's like I'm in a different dimension, LOL. I'm never tired when I'm in there.

It’s now after midnight and I’ve been in bed since 10:30 and I can’t sleep. I’ve listened to two podcasts and finally took an Ambien. Still staring. I was almost asleep when the phone rang. I didn’t answer, but now I’m wide awake. Grrr.

Back in the 70's we had heavy drapes with foam-backed linings that completely blocked out the light. I don't know if they are still available but it's worth the search. In my case the only thing that puts me to sleep is a very boring and quiet PBS program with no ads. I have tinnitus that is more pronounced when there is no noise and my brain won't shut up so that's the only thing for me.

I tape foil over my windows and put up black out blinds and then blackout curtains. I don't understand why folks need that much light? At least make it motion-sensor. I wish I was asleep. That's what I do. I lament being awake. I can't kill time every time, so mostly, I lie awake wishing I was asleep. It's the most miserable feeling in the world.

Last year we bought DD a black plastic tablecloth at Dollar Tree and taped it over her window so she could get extra sleep and not be awakened by light coming through her window in the early summer morning. It worked great as temporary black-out curtains. On a smaller window, a black trash bag might work. With your situation, I'd look at buying some official black-out curtains, though if you want airflow through that window, that might be a problem :(

When I can't sleep from insomnia, I just roll on my back, get comfortable, and meditate. I use to have problems with my mind racing, so would take a low dose melatonin, which seems to settle overthinking enough that you grog off. Problem for me with melatonin was that I slept great for 3 or 4 hours and then woke up ready to go, but without enough sleep to keep going.

A couple of things. Although it has caffeine a small cup of hot coffee or tea can help relax you enough to go back to sleep. No need to drink the whole thing and your body will probably tell you when you have had enough. You can shorten the blackout curtains enough to cover most of the window leaving enough of an opening for air to flow through. Alternatively if the airflow area is still too much place a small table or chest in front of the window with something sitting on it to block the light.

A caution about the magnesium. I was taking it for a while for leg cramps. What I did not know was that for some people it is a laxative. I found that out when I mentioned problems I was having to my doctor.