[Boomer]

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in a doctor's book." (Irish Proverb)

Shakespeare called it "Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care."

I doubt that there is anyone here among us on TOTV who has not had a bout with insomnia. It might come in the form of trouble going to sleep. Or it might be that waking up in the middle of the night thing where you want to go back to sleep but your brain does not.

I do OK most of the time. I tend to be a diurnal creature. But there are those times, those miserable times, when sleep is elusive.

Big Pharma makes a lot of money on those heavily advertised sleeping pills. I am sure they help some people. But for others they can cause some real problems. With Ambien (Hey, did you ever notice that the name of that one is a combo of AM and good?) ......anyway, with Ambien the word is that you better have your head on the pillow immediately after taking it or you might feel a little strange. I know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who gets up and eats in the middle of the night, with no recollection, since she has been taking Ambien. As I understand it, now she has started to cook meals in her sleep. I am not kidding. But like I said, for others it works just fine. I know people who have used it successfully.

Well, I am going on and on here and it is getting close to midnight when I get really sleepy and have no business posting so I will hurry up now.

Here is what I want to ask:

What are some things that you may know about that have worked for insomnia? Not pills. But just little things that help. Things for those times when your brain just wants to keep on ticking and ticking and will not SHUT UP!!!!

I have a couple of things that work. One is a CD that has only the sound of surf crashing on the beach. Once I got past thinking that I was supposed to be starring in "From Here to Eternity" I found that the rhythmic surf sound helps a lot. It focuses my brain somehow. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I push the button on the Bose and start it right up. It works more often than it doesn't.

The other thing that I have tried is saying the alphabet in random order. That one focuses the brain a little but bores you to sleep eventually. But the surf works better.

Any other ideas out there?

Goodnight Boomer