Don't you hate it. . .

Yes, it's like your brain and your body have different ideas.

Some diluted lavender essential oil sprayed around, some chamomile, kava, or melatonin while listening to some psychill music mix on YouTube and im usually out for the night. But yes... insomnia is like torture, even if it's only one night. When you got a long day ahead of you it is even worse. :-d

0thru9 has it there, try going to bed 2 hours earlier, take some valerian or melatonin and listen to something very monotonous like a lecture on chemistry of feynman's physics classes or even very calm music.

I can't sleep with music on, it is far to distracting. Sometimes sleeping on the floor helps, but sometimes it is just a struggle to go to sleep.

There is a secondary circadian clock which is regulated by digestion, so you probably don't want to eat too late. Limit your eating window to 8 hrs as a matter of habit.

Take a hot epsom salt bath before bed.

Stare at the ceiling and ruminate upon those critical lifetime decisions and ask yourself what might have been had you only done otherwise. Finally drift off into a timid slumber of regret and awake to an overcast day of lethargy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Reply to Hanover For some reason I read that first as "Stare at the ceiling and urinate..." and I was pretty sure that wouldn't work. Reading it again hasn't changed my opinion much.

Reply to Baden Spell check changed it to ruminate from defecate. Same opinion?

Reply to Hanover Hm, throw a colostomy bag into the equation and we might have something.

Doxylamine works for me when I can't sleep, better than most prescription sleeping meds I've tried.

Quoting Hanover

Stare at the ceiling and ruminate upon those critical lifetime decisions and ask yourself what might have been had you only done otherwise. Finally drift off into a timid slumber of regret and awake to an overcast day of lethargy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The foundations for a meaningful existence right there!

If I've learned anything truly useful in college it's that coffee doesn't give you energy, it just keeps you from falling asleep.

I don't like using any type of chemical sleeping aids. I always wake up feeling tried and with a headache. I don't know if my sleep cycles exactly fit the standard 7 - 8 hours, as I sleep for about five hours a night. Five hours is just right for me, and I think sleeping aids make me oversleep.

I have been sleeping on the floor that last few nights, and it has seemed to help. I think my back gets stressed by sleeping on a mattress, which may be the reason I have problems sleeping sometimes. Sleeping on the floor gives my back firm support and the rest it needs. After a few days of sleeping on the floor my back feels great.

Exercise. Go fight some gravity and increase your heart rate.

5:09 AM no sleep, ugh.