Is there any way to induce a deep sleep?

Eat a light dinner, take a long hot bath, with low lights, candles, relaxing music maybe.
Excercise early in the day, not too close to bedtime.
Drink some milk an hour before bed, or have something with tryptophan in it as a natural sleep aide. Turkey comes to mind but you are not on the eve of turkey day in the states lol

Do not drink any tea or other caffienated beverages.

Put on a soothing CD in your bedroom, maybe nature sounds or instrumentals, lullaby type music and do some deep breathing to relax you.

Keep to a regular bedtime schedule and, well….if all of this doesn’t work maybe you need some counseling to get to the root of your insomnia which might be anxiety related.

Best wishes!

I take Melatonin when I need extra help to sleep. It is over the counter here and in the 15 years of taking it on and off I wouldn’t consider it addictive. I haven’t taken any in over 6 months and I have a bottle on my desk.

An antihistamine such as diphenhdramine (Benadryl) might do the trick. Not habit-forming but might take quite a while to kick in & might give you dry eyes or mouth.

You need to figure out what is causing you to have sleep problems first. Is it stress? An odd work schedule? Your diet? A lack of physical activity? How is your sleeping environment? Are you comfortable? Do you think too much at night? @Coloma has very good suggestions – similar to everything my doctor has suggested for me to do to help with my insomnia.

If you still want medication, my doctor switched me off the strong sleep aids (which create dependency) and onto low-dose antidepressant (Trazodone specifically.) It helps me sleep through most of the night and if I do wake up, I’m able to fall back asleep. The problem with this, however, is that I still don’t know what caused me to develop insomnia. I’m trying to wean off the medicine now and sleep on my own. Some nights are better than others.

Thanks!
I don’t have much to go on other than the normal bill worries, I’m fairly inactive as it goes but then again I’m not one for long walks etc.

Sometimes I can go 24+ hours with no sleep and then the night after I can be asleep for 12 hours, I think my main cause is anxiety with stressing over the bills and im currently working things out with the gas and electricity supplier about this, I suppose I could ask my doctor again for a repeat prescription and continue treatment until everything has been OK’d on the utility suppliers end but even then it’s a given that my doctor may not agree to this as a course of action :(

I’m especially worried that my lack of sleep and lack of eating is going to cause more serious problems further down the road.

Two Pop Tarts and a glass of milk about 30 minutes before bedtime should do the trick.

Works for me along with a 25 mg antihistimine.

If the main issue is quieting your mind, and you have a smartphone or iPod, my recommendation is an app called Pzizz. It keeps me off Ambien…

Michael Jackson used profonal. You might want to stay away from that.

Just maybe @filmfann!
I use generic knock-offs of Bendryl. It takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to kick in. Works.