Insomnia

Drink some sleepy time tea, or some warm milk... something that will comfort you without a lot of calories. If I'm still up at like 2AM a peanut butter and honey sandwhich typically does me in.

sleeping pills.

yeah with working and going to college for the past 4 years I HAVE IT AND IT SUCK:( I went to my doctor, and the sleeping pills HELP:)

sleeping pills.

At some point, your body becomes tolerant to the sleeping pills though and they can have an adverse effect. Medicating is ideally the last resort. Try decaf, sleepy time/herbal tea as said above, try some yoga/meditation, read a book, Turn off the electronics!

I too have struggled with insomnia, I take an over the counter sleep aid and sometimes I make myself an eggnog. I warm milk with a beaten egg into it. I warm this up and either add honey or a small amount of sugar, vanilla and enjoy. I found the protein in the egg helps as does the warm milk. My mom made this for me when I was young and it always helped. I wish you the best as you figure out what works for you, for my stress I journal and get it out of my mind and on paper, it seems to help.

Be careful with the nytol or any of those other. Some of them also have Acetaminophen which can build up and cause problems if you take it too long.

Melatonin never worked for me and I was on the prescription melatonin at one point.

If this is an ongoing problem, see if you can get referred to a sleep clinic for a sleep study and have a sleep neurologist review the results. I had one done a few years ago and in addition to the insomnia, I was waking up several times a night and also had restless legs syndrome.

I know what causes the insomnia and I will probably always be on medication for it. The restless legs was caused by seriously low iron levels

I wont take sleep aids either. Here are some small things that help me when I'm in a bad sleep cycle.

-I wash my sheets every night. I try to make my bed as comfy cozy as possible, and nice clean sheets make me feel so good.
-People often forget that waking up is part of the process. I never wear sunglasses in the morning. I read this once and thought it was stupid, but tried it anyway, and I swear it works. I forget why, but something about the sunlight and chemicals in your brain, and wearing sunglasses simulates a darker environment and inhibits the "wake up" chemicals. Sounds silly, but try it.
-Stick to your scheudle. Workout, eat right, go to work or school, and do everything as normal. Don't give in. It will pass. It has to. I tend to stress eat when I'm really tired, especailly if I hot the 2nd week of a really bad cycle, I just want heavy meals, lasagne, and that kind of food, cheese and pasta, pizza, things like that, even fast food, which I never eat.
-If you have the option, the BEST solution for me is to take off a few days from work, and hopefully, I don't have much going on and I can just hang around the house and take naps. A few days of that, and I'll snap back into place pretty fast. However, I usually can't do this.
-Create a sleep routine. Normally, I don't have to do this at all, but in a bad sleep cycle, it does help to shut off the TV, do a few chores, close up the house, wash the dishes, etc, take a shower, and keep things quiet, and get myself into sleep mode. I might read right before bed too to help me sleep.
-Lastly, if you have life issues, take care of them. Make spreadsheets, write out letters, keep a journal, do whatever you have to do to get it out and stop spinning it around in your head over and over. While this is not always my problem, sometimes it is, and I've founf that just hitting it head on will often resolve it.

Hope this helps.

Have you tried taking Melatonin? Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#In_humans

This is awesome and natural and helps with insomnia. Hopefully this helps.

Good luck!

^ Agreed! Worked wonders for me.

What I did was get up real early one day and spent it all outside being busy and active, cleaning, generally just tiring myself out. Then I fell asleep at 11:30pm. The next day the same thing but went to sleep at 11 pm. Then the next day 10:30 pm and now 10 pm.

Try it

Have you tried taking Melatonin? Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#In_humans

This is awesome and natural and helps with insomnia. Hopefully this helps.

Good luck!

Contrasy to conventional wisdom, using melatonin can be a double edged sword. Firstly, melatonin IS a hormone. Ingesting large ammts will ultimately lead to your body producing less on its own. Secondly, the research still isnt really there. Some studies suggest that it helps but others don't and nothing has been done to address the long term effects of this type of therapy.

My suggestion, exercise more a few hrs before bed. Do somethingthat will tire you out like jogging. If that doesn't work then just listen to your body. If falling asleep at 2am is normal then its just normal! Don't fight it, use the time to your advantage... wake up later (if work allows) and eatdinner slightly later too. TYour body will tell you what it wants, dont fight it because others tell you its wrong.

As for the eating, just drink some water and simply DONT EAT! Use a little will power, the more you resist the temptation, the easier it will get.

Good luck!