"The best remedy for sleep is stress-reduction, letting things slide. Stop listening to the depressing evening news. Finish your detailed work by early evening to relax the mind. Regarding our daytime dramas, here is a different solution: allocate about twenty minutes for concentrated worry time before bedtime. Get it over with! Twenty minutes and not one minute more. Instead of counting sheep, try an auto-hypnotic visualization. Visit your happiest place on earth. This could be a beach, a country home, or Tuscany. Imagine it descriptively, using your five senses. The more you practice, the better your imagination works. Really experience this secure, loving place. Breathe naturally to your own rhythm. See each breath go through your heart. Give yourself a loving message while you visit this beautiful place like “I trust and let go; I let go and I trust.” In order to fall asleep you have to give up control, yield and trust that you will be safe and that you will wake up. This visualization will help you relax with its sing-song rhythm. Here are some concrete suggestions to facilitate nighttime renewal: * Absolutely no work station in the bedroom. * Try to go to sleep the same time every night and wake up the same time in the morning. Create a habit. * Create a bedtime ritual like a bath and moisturizing lotion, or listen to inspirational music. Meditate. Absolutely no late night news shows! * Try your grandmother’s remedy- warm milk and crackers—they work! So do bananas, yogurt, figs and of course, turkey. Avoid sugar, spinach, eggplant, tomatoes, alcohol and of course, caffeine. Some of us should not have coffee past noon. * Exercise large muscle groups in the daytime. Walking is excellent. Do not exercise close to bedtime as you will feel over-stimulated by your endorphins and your increased body temperature. Instead, try stretching exercises before bedtime as these are relaxing. * Cool down the room and lower the shades. Make sure the room is dark and does not let in the early morning sun. * I saved the best for last: Have sex. It releases melatonin to help you sleep. If all of the above doesn’t work, try this trick: Force yourself to stay awake. That’s right: You must stay awake. Go to the living room, read a book, pay the bills and stay up. This will take the pressure off falling asleep. We understand and process a concept from its opposite. Sometimes we have to combine several remedies in order to sleep." [source http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art20226.asp]

Try staying away from caffeine,caramel colored soda like coke and pepsi,exercise,chocolate at least 3 hours before bed.Go to bed and wake up the same time each day even if you got no sleep the night before.Dont nap for more than 20 minutes in the daytime and not after 3pm,as this interferes with nighttime sleep.Also dont twist and turn more than l5 minutes in the bed,if so get out of bed and do something boring like rading a book,if you find yourself nodding out immediately get up and go back into the bed.If you are taking and prescription meds alert your md as this may be a side effect and a dosage adjustment is all that may be needed.Try dep breathing exercise or soft mellow music before bed.Also the old cliche warm milk before bed is true.Milk when warmed contains tryotophan a natural sleep inducer.If doing this for at least 2-4 weeks does not help,perhaps a sleep evaluation is needed.For a list of them and further tips on insomnia go to slepnet.com click on disorders ,then insomnia.Good luck,