got to buy some Chamomile dry flowers (the flowers not the crap Chamomile tea :s ). You can find it everywhere in Taiwan.
Put some boilling water on it, keep it around 10-15 minutes, and you’ll know what is the true meaning of ‘to sleep well’
Don’t use any drugs like sleeping pills (it’ll make you feel worst and won’t resolve anything…)
I use Chamomile often since a few years, and this is really useful 
Chamomile makes not a blind bit of difference if you sleep three hours a day. I have the drug tolerance of a horse and so much adrenaline in my system it makes no difference. Maybe if I ate a field full.
I think the key is to just accept your ‘cycles’ and get on with it. Or Stillnox for when it’s giving me severe physical symptons.
I guess I need to have a stab at the psychological stuff as well. Learn to accept things. Try to be more stoical about life and lower my expectations.
TURKEY
Get up and eat some turkey. Turkey contains tryptophan, a major building block for making serotonin, a neurotransmitter, which sends messages between nerve cells and causes feelings of sleepiness. Note that L-tryptophan doesn’t act on the brain unless you eat it on an empty stomach with no protein present, so keep some turkey in the refrigerator for 3am.
WARM MILK
Like turkey, milk contains tryptophan, and the calcium and magnesium in milk help enhance the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin. As for whether there’s any truth to the old tale about warm milk’s sleep-inducing powers, the jury is still out.
[url=http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T042400.asp]SNOOZE FOODS
These are foods high in the sleep-inducing amino acid tryptophan:
Dairy products: cottage cheese, cheese, milk
Soy products: soy milk, tofu, soybean nuts
Seafood
Meats
Poultry
Whole grains
Beans
Rice
Hummus
Lentils
Hazelnuts, Peanuts
Eggs
Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds [/url]
Thought this was kinda fun info on food and sleep.
Bodo
I’m awake. I really want to sleep. It really affronts me that I have such stupid problems. Can’t even lie down and shut my eyes properly.
I frequently can’t fall asleep, but after I do, I can go for way too long. I’ve been sleeping 10-11 hours a night recently. So I guess I’m on the opposite (but I don’t need to get up early so it’s probably a life-style thing…)
Anywho, one way I’ve found to put me to sleep is to replay a TV show or movie that I’ve seen many times that doesn’t have huge jumps in volume. I play it low enough that I can kinda hear it, but not high enough that I can truly concentrate on what is going on.
This is harder to find than you might think. My current fave is “Wire in the Blood.” Been playing Season 3 episode 3 for about a week now…
Also, movies or TV in a language that you totally do not understand work well, too. Don’t try a language that you have studied, as it just frustrates you that you may not understand. Go for the ones you have never ever studied and have never really heard people speak.
SBS in Australia was my sleep aid. 
I agree with the warm milk idea, however I like it in the form of cream of mushroom soup. I too have a busy mind and always make a point of thinking of something positive or funny before sleeping. What time to you start work bc?
Sweet dreams
I’d suggest don’t take pills to get to sleep - I’ve been doing that and now I can’t sleep at all without them.
If you’re only working in the evening and feel too wired after work to sleep, i’d just accept your situation and not even try to go to sleep until really late. When I had hours like that I’d go to bed at 4 or 5 in the morning and wake up at noon.
One thing I found really hampered my sleep in Taiwan was the cockroaches. I’d never seen one before I came here and they really freaek me out. I’ve been back home for almost two years now and I still have nightmares about them crawling on me.
Thanks for suggestions, guys. I am awake, now, MSNing, forumosing, writing my stuff. I have Chinese at 10, then work; I haven’t a chance of dropping off for ages. S’OK, I can handle it for a few nights; it’s when it goes on for weeks that I start to feel tweezed. I never used to be like this. My life must just be too easy?
Bodo, I’m allergic to half of those foods. Connected, in some weird way? Are allergies even real?
I don’t take pills as I am the biggest junkie on the planet if I give myself ANY leeway.
I never have a problem sleeping, but I do have a severe problem actually going to bed. :s
I’ve had pretty serious cases of the running-mind kind of insomnia for a long time now.
Meditation definitely helps. I do the empty-mind kind, focussing on the moment and thinking about nothing. It’s an effort, but it helps. The Eckhart Tolle books/CDs were a really good introduction.
Fresh air really helps too. Perhaps you could use your walk home as a chance to relax and let your mind run itself out.
Miltownkid’s suggestion about writing things down is also really good. In particular, identify the things your mind is churning about, and write them down along with what you’re going to do about them (or at least, the options). Something about putting it on paper helps the mind forget about it for a night.
QiGong is good, as is exercise right before bed, counterintuitively.
If all else fails, do it the German way - warm a bottle of beer up above room temperature and down it.
Oh, and drink plenty of water. Dehydration is the number one cause of insomnia!
This post written at five o’clock in the frickin morning
Dunno, I just can’t ‘trick’ my mind or body. It knows I’m trying to ‘kill’ it.
The whole thing’s calmed down a bit. I’m not sleeping as much as would be optimum, but I’m getting enough not to be ill. I think it’s my mind fighting back against working and trying to reclaim the lost time…
Just trying to keep busy and go swimming or walk up the mountain as much as possible to have a balanced life. Nowadays we have unbalanced lives; we get paid to think about stuff and then write Word documents to record the thoughts.
I’m going to run away and be a fisherwoman. Mind you, the last four times I said was running away to **** to **** didn’t really do much good. Hehe.
I think one of the biggest problems with insomniacs (and I have been one) is the very worry and anxiety of not being able to sleep. That constant nagging concern and feeling of exhaustion makes for yet another restless night.
You can spend your entire evening preparing for the perfect slumber: prepare the freshest sheets, drink the right drinks, eat the right food, play the right music, think the right thoughts, take a long soak, ease towards bed, read the right book, set the right temperature, turn the light out when all feels right …yawn …(yes! this is looking good)…then…tick tock…
…tick tock……Oh no, that wasn’t a fucking bird singing was it?:help:
I had to develop a new mindset. This is what works for me: DON’T LOSE SLEEP WORRYING ABOUT LOSING SLEEP. Seriously, don’t worry about it- and BELIEVE IT. Tell yourself: sleep 2 hours or 2 mins…who gives a shit. Not gonna kill you. Sure, you may feel like shit tomorrow, and maybe won’t even sleep tomorrow night either…but who gives a shit?
Got stuff on your mind - then accept and relax with the fact that sleep might not be so easy. Your body will catch up and regulate itself as and when it needs. It’s smarter than you. Sure, don’t do things that obviously obstruct sleep (espresso before bed is asking for it) - but above all else, just relax and let it happen. Your body will get the sleep it needs when it is ready. Things will be back to normal in a few days or weeks… whenever…but it will pass.
Sleeping pills, alcohol and any other unhealthy ‘cures’ are cheating. They cheat your body of the chance to self regulate and they cheat you of a healthy and revitalizing sleep. The last thing you mind or body needs (if you are having trouble sleeping) is an induced crash. Save the sleeping pills for days when you really might need them. God forbid, reserve them for times when being knocked out is the best thing for you.
Dreams Buttercup, come when they are ready.
Hope this helps.
Ok, serious advice, but this has to be done as a package, and not piecemeal:
Morning exercise, which helps regulate health and sleep functions.
No caffeine after 2pm.
Near bedtime, a very large glass of dry red wine, to be imbibed before, during and after a long hot shower.
Into bed, with a heavy albeit fascinating book on the details of evolutionary theory, by S.J.Gould.
And imagine that sleep is not the goal – no, no, you don’t want to sleep, you just want to read…
Sleep will follow…
I am not employed in the medical field but I know that insomnia is often a symptom of depression. It might be worth looking into.
No shit, Sherlock. Unfortunately I’ve been at this psychotic depression lark for 20 years. SSRI’s are for amateurs, part-timers and people having a bad week. I took Princess Diana level doses for 15 years; they don’t even touch the sides anymore.
Blackadder, you made a lot of sense.
Sorry, I didn’t see depression mentioned anywhere in your responses. I have known many people in denial about their depression so I thought it might be the case with you also. I was just trying to help you.
Sorry, that came across as a bit snide. I meant it laughingly. No offense meant and thank you for your concern about my problems which probably isn’t deserved.
Sorrysorrysorry, bad buttercup.
I’m a bit snide sometimes too.
No shit, Sherlock. I never listen to you anyway. Or read your emails.
I wank you not Watson, it’s true.