What do you do to combat insomnia?

NyQuil, occasionally. Sometimes heated milk (yuck!). Often a DVD that I’ve seen very often before (and therefore have no reason to devote brain power to following).

<shrug> At least one of those usually works for me.

Warm milk with a small amount of vanilla and sometimes a small amount of sugar. My mom gave it to us when we were little and called it “night-night milk”. I don’t know if it works because of the whole warm milk thing or because of the strong association with sleeping via my mother giving it to us.

Marijuana. The only side effect if taken at night is lack of dreams.

Diphenhydramine (Bendryl)

Heavy doses of Advil PM

SMOKE WEED. you have lack of dreams chris? I have awesome vivid dreams if i smoke before i sleep.

Listen to Pink Floyd’s Echo or any other equally sleep inducing music (I mean that in a good way, really)

I never remember dreams when I smoke. If I dont smoke, which is not too often, then I have crazy dreams again. Or at least I remember them.

I breathe deeply, closing my eyes on each exhale, opening them as I inhale. Another thing I try is to count backwards from 100, closing my eyes on the even numbers, opening them on the odd numbers. As I do this, I try to extend the amount of time my eyes are closed. I’ve only gotten to zero twice in 20-some years. Both times there was just too much on my mind, so I said to heck with it and got out of bed.

Keeping my feet warm seems to really help. a purring cat doesn’t hurt anything either.

What works for me is to get my attention off my thoughts and down into my body. I do this by lying perfectly still and tuning into the low-level hum of sensations throughout my body, the slight tingling that’s always there in arms and legs. If my attention drifts back to thoughts, I just immediately bring it back to the body. I’m getting sleepy just describing it

If it’s insomnia from my mind not shutting up, I play Solitaire until my mind goes numb.
If it’s insomnia from other things…Nyquil, Thera-Flu, Benadryl, or alcohol.
I know. Not great alternatives. But sometimes you’ve got to sleep!

I don’t even try anymore…I just live with it, for the most part. Every once in a while, if it’s not my mind keeping me awake, I’ll take a Xanax, just to get the body relaxed.

come here, or read

Sex

Light: But it’s late and you’re still up!
So either:
1) You have chosen to be awake and its not insomnia.
2) You’re in a different time zone (and it’s not late).
3) It is insomnia, but you’ve chosen to embrace it.
OR
4) You are not getting laid.

@nimis the answer is 2) I’m in a whole other country.

Light: Phew. Glad to hear it.

@Chris 1637: Im the same way, I dont dream when I smoke!

I dont try to combat insomnia I just stay up and try to get some stuff done that I would normally be doing and just catch up on sleep the next night