what causes  insomia? What can one do to be able to sleep at night? no pills please?
95819
Try some relaxation exercises. Meditation and relaxation exercises usually work better than expected. Learn some new breathing techniques. Deep belly breathing and 3 part breathing are very relaxing. \n\nBasically what you need to do is tighten you rentire body and release, then start with your legs one at a time and lift them an inch off the floor, tighten and release, letting them drop. Go through each body part including head. Tighten and release.\nFocus on nothing but your breath. In through the nose, fill entire belly to the bottom, and out the mouth.\nEach time you breath in fill your entire belly with air all the way down when you release the air, let it all out. Each time you exhale you are going to focus on making the exhale longer than the inhale was count if you would like. Think of nothing. Push all thoughts out. When you have a thought banish it. You will sink deeper and deeper into relaxation until you accidentally fall asleep. \n\nThis generally will put you to sleep before very long at all.\n\n3 part breathing is done by breathing into (filling)the abdomon first, then the belly then the chest, fill each one after another. It helps to place your hand on each to feel what you are doing at first. \n\nHere is a deviation of the first one from dr. weil\nhttp://www.drweil.com/u/Article/M116/\nand another promising site:\nhttp://www.breath.org/mountainwind/tips01.htm\n\nThere are countless ways of doing these. Find what works for you. Do a search of breathing exercises or yogic breathing (Pranayama) or meditation. All these can be very helpful.\n\nBest of luck to you. Get some rest!!
217738
I've been plauged with insomnia since as far back as I can recall. My mom always had problems getting me up for school in the morning, mainly b/c I didn't get much sleep at night. I've been a night owl ever since. I went through a time where I did speed/meth to stay up all night so I didn't have to worry about fighting to fall asleep. that was the first sign for me, I was always fighting to go to sleep. My mind just didn't seem to want to shut off. so, I had read never to stay in bed when you can't sleep after about 15 minutes....to do something relaxing, like read, or take a bath, or watch tv. but don't stay in bed. your not supposed to associate your bed with anything else but sleep. nothing helped me, even did a sleep study. I only slept 4 hours so they could only come to the conclusion that I had insomnia....gee, ya think!! well, I can only sleep with the help of prescribed meds now. good luck!!
630524
i suffer from recurrent migranes.  the medicine that dr.'s prescribe all will put you to sleep.  what i try to do is catch the warning signs.  slight headache, blurred vision, flashing lights in eyes, or dizzy.  and take a bc powder and 2 advil or 2 aleve.  some times it helps but not always.  if not get a cold towel lay in a cold quiet room, pray and try to sleep it off sometimes it takes a few days.  just try to watch what you eat, stay out of the sun.  and just try to see what may be causing them.  oh yaeh also try not to stress.  i hope i helped!
772322
there is nothing on the internet by this name, it is not a common name in the treatment of insomnia either, you could try melatonin over the counter, tylenol pm or talk to your doctor about things like lunesta, sonata, ambien cr. non pharmacological, fixed sleep times, minimal caffeine, no tv or computer before sleep, exercise in evenings are helpful, good luck
365675
I went through a similar cycle with no help from anywhere.  Drugs left me zonked the next day too.  Eventually I found relief through my own little techniques.  Stress doesn't help mind you.  She has to find a pattern that suits her.  The trick is that when your head hits the pillow it can't say "OK go to sleep, go to sleep this time".  The n the cycle has already begun.  I drink a warm malted milk and then always force my imagination to go somewhere.  For me the start is always very science fiction, but that is just me.  Before you know it the mind can wonder on its own and zzzzzzzz.....  Just advise mind you, insomnia is different for everyone and there are different types.  The other main variety is waking up 3 hours into sleep and then being stuck awake.
982471
This sounds silly, but are your feet cold?  I've heard that cold feet can contribute to insomnia.  Try keeping your feet warmer by wearing socks or keeping your blankets wrapped around them.
847093
Exercise.\n\nIt will help with insomnia and relieve stress.\n\nAs other people mentioned above, a dark room is important.  If there are light sources in your room (or outside your room that are visible through the curtains), it will mess with your body's internal clock.  Eliminate all internal light sources and get thick curtains that block all external light.\n\nAlso, don't use your computer at night.  The brightness from the monitor will wreak havoc on your body clock (your body will think that it is daytime and work to keep you awake longer).\n\nIf you can't sleep, read a book or, better yet, listen to music or audio books with your eyes closed.\n\nBest of luck!
132365
The smell of lavender makes me sleepy. If I am pressed for time and need to sleep it has to be dark and I mean turn your alarm clock to the wall dark. As dark as you can make it. No tv, all those flickering lights from the screen in an otherwise dark room seems to really distract the mind and the eyeball. No music, unless you can pinpoint a song that you can kind of tune out and let your mind wander along with. No caffeine or exercise before bed...blah blah blah if all else fails turn on the weather channel.
119084
Insomnia may be caused by a variety of things. There are three main areas that insomnia causes may be grouped into. These are psychological problems, social problems and medical problems. \n\nPsychological Problems\nInsomnia may be the result of depression, stress or some other psychological reason. Many people who suffer from psychological disorders also suffer from sleep disruption. If your insomnia follows a traumatic experience such as a car accident, an assault or a robbery, the trauma of the event may be contributing to your lack of sleep.\n\nSocial Problems\nA tense work environment or a problematic marriage may cause insomnia that falls into the Social Problems category. The frustrations and irritability confronted throughout the day may be replayed in your mind when you try to lie down to go sleep. This may cause you to be unable to sleep, simply tossing and turning for hours.\n\nMedical Problems\nA large assortment of medical reasons may cause insomnia. Being in pain or worrying about your illness may keep you from sleeping. Or the medications you take for your illness may cause you to stay awake.\n\n There are three stages of insomnia:\n\n1- TRANSIENT INSOMMIA.\n2- CHRONIC INSOMMIA.\n3- INTERMITTENT INSOMMIA.\n\nTransient insomnia is also known as short term insomnia, intermittent insomnia is also called on and off and chronic insomnia is called constant. Insomnia lasting from a single night to a few weeks is referred to as transient. If an episode of transient insomnia occurs from time to time it is said to be transient. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most night and lasts for a month or more.\n\nPeople more likely to experience insomnia are those in advanced years, those of the female gender, and those with a history of depression.\n\nTransient insomnia occurs in people who are temporarily experiencing 1 or more of these conditions: stress, noise, hot or cold temperature changes, jet lag and side effects from medications.\n\nChronic insomnia is mainly due to depression, misuse of caffeine and alcohol or shift work.\n\nInsomnia is found in both male and female. But in females in the menopause years it is most common.\n\nInsomnia is diagnosed with a medical history and a sleeping log. A sleeping can be done through journal entries, telling the time you went to bed and the number of times you awaken during the night.\n\nInsomnia is treated differently depending on the stage. Transient and intermittent may not require treatment. Chronic is different. The reason it is different is because the underlying cause must first be found.\n\nThe following are a few handy tips to avoid Insomnia:\n\n1) Don't go to bed until you feel exhausted & sleepy.\n\n2) Don't use the bed for anything else but sleeping i.e. no eating or watching TV.\n\n3) If you don't fall asleep within 15 minutes get up and do something else.\n\n4) Don't take naps during the day.\n\n5) Avoids alcohol and caffeine before bed.\n\nIf you want to eradicate this problem simply follow the tips for getting some proper sleep, which will ensure you stay healthy for a long time. Change your living style, try making some changes in your bedroom surroundings/setup, it may help you feel relaxed and eventually fall asleep.
220293
what time do you go to bed?\n\nyou might want to examine your sleep hygiene and make sure that you're getting QUALITY sleep... (even if you're getting enough quantity)\n\ndepression can definitely cause insomnia and hypersomia (too much sleep); do you ever feel "blue"?  do you feel stressed?  how's your appetite?  it's still winter (at least in U.S.) and sometime mild depression can be seasonal\n\nsleep problems could also be do to endocrine problems such as w/ your thyroid\n\nhere's what I would do:  1) try to normalize your sleep (go to bed ~same time, wake ~same time, don't eat or exercise close to bedtime); 2)try to exercise regularly (just not within a few hours of going to sleep); 3)eat well; 4)consider if you may suffer from depression (it's nothing to be ashamed of); 5)if it continues, talk to your doctor \n\nalso, consider that different people need different amounts of sleep... some are fine with 6 hours while some need 9 hours\n\nsleep is very important and problems with sleep generally correlate with problems with your health!  take it serious!
57719
Try these if you want to fall asleep faster:\n\n1.  Exercise\nMake sure you exercise enough and stay physically active.  If you don't move a muscle all day long, you have too much energy left at the end of your day.  Do some aerobic sports at least every other day, each lasting 30 minutes or more.\n\n2.  Stress management\nToo much stress obviously help create insomnia.  Make sure you are not annoyed by or concerned with anything when you are in bed.  Relax yourself before going to bed.  If necessary, some "soft" relaxing exercise helps. (or even moderate stretching will do)\n\n3. Hot drink other than coffee\nIf possible, take a cup of hot or warm drink like skimmed milk.  Avoid drinking coffee starting from six hours (or more) before you go to bed.\n\n4. Body temperature\nI advise taking a warm shower before going to bed.  When you're sleeping your body temperature drops a little bit.  So the shower help create that "drop" because after the shower your body is slightly "hotter".  Make sure you feel a comfortable temperature at where you sleep. Too cold: add a blanket; too warm: show your bare feet or even your lower legs.
249350
I had a bad problem with insomnia for many years, and did some research on it.  Here are the things I’ve found that help the most.\n\n1.  Don't take the sleeping pills.  Although they are not addictive in the way we tend to think (you won't jones for them if you miss taking them) they are addictive in the sense that once you have taken them for a while, you will have to take them to get to sleep, but they won't have the same effect they used too.   This is because you tend to not get the necessary REM sleep you need to be rested.  If you must take a sleeping pill, take it well before you go to sleep.  For instance, I prefer to take sleeping pills 2 hours before I go to sleep, so that the pill can get into my system and make me drowsy before I get into bed, then get out of my system (hopefully) early enough that I get some normal sleep.\n\n2.  Try to go to bed at about the same time every night.  You have some wiggle room on this, but if you stay out on Saturday night till 3, it'll be harder to go to sleep at 10PM Sunday.\n\n(Which somewhat contradicts:)\n\n3.  If possible, don't go to bed if you're not sleepy.  Note  - one thing I have read and found to be true is that you have to be awake for 12 hours before you can go back to sleep.  So if you sleep till noon, again, you won't be sleepy at 10PM.  \n\n4.  Don't spend more than 15-30 minutes trying to get to sleep.  If you notice that you've been in bed more than 15 minutes, get out of bed and do something for a while.  Make sure what you do isn't going to make you more hyper; e.g. no exercising or energetic music or writing posts to online debates. \n\n5.  When you go to bed, choose a chore or some other task that you do not want to do and tell yourself that if you are still awake in thirty minutes you will do that task.  Then, if you are still awake, get up and do your chosen task.  This is my favorite suggestion, as it has worked nearly every time I've used it. .\n\nThose are the most useful suggestions I have.  Other things you can try:\n\nBefore you start getting ready for sleep, turn off high energy music and turn the lights down.  I love R&R music, but I went through a period where I had to turn the radio off every night about an hour before I went to bed, or I would be too wired to sleep. And our bodies react to reduced light by producing melatonin which puts us to sleep.  \n\nGet plenty of exercise, but not right before bed.  (Unless you're weird like me - exercise right before bed just puts me to sleep)\n\nAnother suggestion that might work is to relax your body, consciously, one area at a time, starting from your feet. You think about the ball of your left foot and relax it, then the ball of your right foot, then the arch of your left foot, etc. You have to concentrate (pretty hard) on what you are doing\n\nSex *grin*  by yourself or with an SO, it produces a nice soporific chemical, which does a nice job of putting you to sleep.
929925
The Homeopathic Remedy PASSIFLORA INCARNATA in mother tincture (Q) potency, 20 drops in about 2 sips of warm water half an hour before meals thrice a day will have her sleeping peacefully and without any harmful tranqulizers, she should keep on taking it till her insomnia is totally cured without any side effects or complications of any kind and its totally non addictive. If this does not helps  after taking it for three days, give her NUX VOMICA 30 half an hour before bed time and ask her to lay down she will be asleep before she notices it :-). 100% relief without and comlications or side effects.\nTake care and God Bless you
704265
How to Beat INSOMNIA with Sleep \nhttp://tips-to-sleep.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-beat-insomnia-with-sleep.html
155949
Sleep Net Analysis\n\nIn today’s world, most people don’t get enough sleep, but then some people do. Then there are some people aren’t as lucky because they have a sleep disorder.  There are two sleep disorders that Americans suffer from on opposite ends of the spectrum.  These are insomnia, having difficulty falling asleep, and narcolepsy, having difficulty staying awake.\nInsomnia is a disorder where one has problems with either falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early.  Since the average human being needs anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep a night to function at full potential, this can be a dangerous disorder.  Insomnia comes in three different types: Transient insomnia, Short-term insomnia, and Chronic Insomnia.  The first two types, Transient and Short-term usually last a lot shorter than chronic insomnia, and they can be contributed to either excessive stress, noise around you, temperature changes, jet lag, or medical side effects.  On the other hand, Chronic Insomnia lasts for sever months and is usually caused because of more prominent issues such as physical or mental disorders, depression, or sleep apnea.  Also if one smokes or drinks just before bed time, it could help induce this type of insomnia.\nSo how do you treat insomnia?  For the first two types of insomnia, Transient and Short-term, one could be lucky and skip out on treatment since it only lasts for a brief period of time.  What ever you do, one important thing to remember is to never use over-the-counter sleep medicines to treat this.  If you have Chronic Insomnia, this is more serious. First you should check underlying medical or psychological problems; then identify the problem or behaviors that cause you to have insomnia; then consider possible use of sleeping.  If you want to go for a less expensive approach, simple relaxation therapy, sleep restriction, reconditioning, and bright light methods would work.  Relaxation therapy is self explanatory, one just needs to reduce the amount of anxiety and tension in the body so that one’s muscles can relax and one can sleep.  Sleep restriction is when one spends too much time just lying in bed but not getting to sleep.  To solve this one should just restrict the amount of time they sleep to a few hours a night.  Reconditioning is when one conditions his or her body to not use the bed for anything but sleeping, thus teaching the body to associate bed with sleep.  The last one, bright light, is when one wakes up early to get as much bright light in the morning as possible.  That way you can set your internal clock to sleep at night, and awake during the day.\nAnother sleep disorder on the opposite spectrum than insomnia is narcolepsy.  Narcolepsy is when one gets sleepy all the time and experiences an irresistible need to sleep.  Some of the symptoms are excessive sleepiness, brief periods of muscle control loss, vivid dream images, and sometimes, unable to walk or talk for short periods.  All narcolepsy is when there is a sudden REM cycle in the waking state.  Usually one will start noticing it between the ages of 15 and 30, and he or she is experiencing some of the symptoms listed above.  The most important symptom is excessive sleepiness which attacks an individual throughout the day.  They can last anywhere from a couple of seconds to 30 minutes and can happen at any time, whether it be eating, talking, or driving.   To treat this, one should seek behavioral or medical therapy.  There are stimulant drugs that could be used and sometimes antidepressants help if you have cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness).  Never the less, the important method of keeping this disorder out would be a healthy life style involving good diet, exercise, and a good sleep schedule.\nAround the world there are organizations that provide information about sleeping and sleep disorders.  One of these organizations is the Association of Polysomnographic Technologists.  The APT aims to help improve the qualit
195748
I had a bad problem with insomnia for many years, and did some research on it.  Here are the things I’ve found that help the most.\n\n1.  Don't take the sleeping pills.  Although they are not addictive in the way we tend to think (you won't jones for them if you miss taking them) they are addictive in the sense that once you have taken them for a while, you will have to take them to get to sleep, but they won't have the same effect they used too.   This is because you tend to not get the necessary REM sleep you need to be rested.  If you must take a sleeping pill, take it well before you go to sleep.  For instance, I prefer to take sleeping pills 2 hours before I go to sleep, so that the pill can get into my system and make me drowsy before I get into bed, then get out of my system (hopefully) early enough that I get some normal sleep.\n\n2.  Try to go to bed at about the same time every night.  You have some wiggle room on this, but if you stay out on Saturday night till 3, it'll be harder to go to sleep at 10PM Sunday.\n\n(Which somewhat contradicts:)\n\n3.  If possible, don't go to bed if you're not sleepy.  Note  - one thing I have read and found to be true is that you have to be awake for 12 hours before you can go back to sleep.  So if you sleep till noon, again, you won't be sleepy at 10PM.  \n\n4.  Don't spend more than 15-30 minutes trying to get to sleep.  If you notice that you've been in bed more than 15 minutes, get out of bed and do something for a while.  Make sure what you do isn't going to make you more hyper; e.g. no exercising or energetic music or writing posts to online debates. \n\n5.  When you go to bed, choose a chore or some other task that you do not want to do and tell yourself that if you are still awake in thirty minutes you will do that task.  Then, if you are still awake, get up and do your chosen task.  This is my favorite suggestion, as it has worked nearly every time I've used it. .\n\nThose are the most useful suggestions I have.  Other things you can try:\n\nBefore you start getting ready for sleep, turn off high energy music and turn the lights down.  I love R&R music, but I went through a period where I had to turn the radio off every night about an hour before I went to bed, or I would be to wired to sleep. And our bodies react to reduced light by producing melatonin which puts us to sleep.  \n\nGet plenty of exercise, but not right before bed.  (Unless you're weird like me - exercise right before bed just puts me to sleep)\n\nAnother suggestion that might work is to relax your body, consciously, one area at a time, starting from your feet. You think about the ball of your left foot and relax it, then the ball of your right foot, then the arch of your left foot, etc. You have to concentrate (pretty hard) on what you are doing\n\nSex *grin*  by yourself or with an SO, it produces a nice soporific chemical, which does a nice job of putting you to sleep.
735547
i too need help at bedtime to fall asleep, everyone thinks it's a big joke when you're laying there wide awake for hours, it's not fun,  i'm so sorry for you,  i take 2 xtra strength Tylenol, a half gravol, (gravol will help you sleep) and one to two nerve pills, under my tongue every night, it works, you twist n turn an try so hard but just can't get to sleep, it's awful, good luck to you, hope something works for you.