Insomniac, Any Suggestions?

Good sleep is key to good health. I really hope you find some answers through our wonderful moms.
Exercise early in the day. Eat right. You're old enough to know what that means even if you don't practice it. This next one is hard... you're going to have to re-train your brain to not try and be supermom. Live in the moment. Don't worry yourself over all the little things that "need" to be done. Get a journal or pad of paper and write down the little to-do lists and thoughts that you seem to go over and over. Once it's written, you can actually look at it and not have to mentally keep checking on it.
Anything that stimulates your brain should be avoided for 15-20 minutes before bedtime. For most people, that's television. For some, books can be just as bad. That's for those that have an active imagination.
Most people's racing thoughts are worries. One mantra that helps me focus is "this too shall pass", whether it be a good moment or a bad one, it will pass. So if it's good, I need to take it all in and if it's bad, I know that I can hold on long enough to get through it. The one thing that never changes is knowing that eventually, everything changes.
The melatonin the other lady mentioned works fabulous. There are sleep teas you can buy. Just be careful not to overload them with sugar.
The otc sleep meds always make me groggy and irritable the next day, but with a brand called melosleep(online) I always woke up feeling great. Those breathe right nose strips help get more oxygen during sleep too. Love them.
Good luck!

it takes a lot of discipline for insomniacs to get a good night's sleep.
i would recommend putting an exercise routine in your daily routine, not before bed though.
before bed give your self 10-15 minutes of relaxed awake time in your bed. either talking with your husband or reading or stretching. no t.v. during that time though. put a pad of paper by your bed too so when you think of to do things you can just write them down and let them go during that time.
you can also try drinking some valerium tea or taking some melatonin. they are both natural sleep aides. besides that i would not drink anything before bed to limit the amount of times you need to use the bathroom.
good luck and relax. if you do wake in the night try some of the tea and eat a banana.
as for the breathing technique to fall alseep each time you breath out let go of your thoughts and the things that pop into your head.

Hi Kristy! Good job on supporting our animal friends!!! My daughter and I are vegetarians, and also LOVE animals. Anyway, I don't have any great tricks..but just a few ideas. Maybe try a yoga dvd for relaxation before you go to bed. Also, keep a notebook by your bed. Maybe you could make a list of all you have to do the next day before you go to sleep..so you feel organized. Also, if you wake up and remember something, just jot it down and be done with the thought. You noted that you like your snacks. Maybe set a cut off time (2pm??) for sugar. Sugar is also a stimulant..and it's not just in cookies. Check out your bag of chips! In addition to the breathing (and i would try in and out of the nose), get your body in the corpse pose (yoga). If you are not aware of it, lay on your back, feet apart, arms slightly out and palms up...just totally relaxed. Do the breathing, and repeat some sort of mantra like "quiet breathing, quiet mind". I hope any of these help!

I can honestly say that I have never had this issue, unless something out of the ordinary was going on to cause me great stress (getting a phone call late at night that someone is injured, etc, but you can't go or do anything about it until the next morning).

But I would suggest 2 things:
#1 is to do like the other ladies said, and put a pad and pencil/pen on your nightstand so that if you wake up you can write down whatever you are worried you will forget about.
#2 is to set you alarm for 10 minutes earlier in the morning, so that when you are writing down whatever has you awake worrying, you will KNOW that you have time in the morning to "deal" with whatever it is. It is built in that it will "get handled". Then when you wake and write down "call ___ about ___", or "add ___ to the grocery list", or "give the dog his heart-worm tablet", you can go back to sleep knowing that in the morning you have a few extra minutes to get the phone and make that call, or add that item, or medicate the dog. OR an extra moment to transfer the item to your "running list" that you have for the week..

I find that most of my worrying is over forgetting to schedule something. Not forgetting the actual event, but forgetting to SCHEDULE it. I don't worry that I'll miss my dentist appt, I worry that I DIDN"T WRITE DOWN that I have a dentist appt next Thursday. And until I do write it on my "calendar/schedule" then I worry incessantly over the fact that it isn't "recorded". So maybe if you PLAN time in the morning (by setting your alarm a few minutes earlier) to schedule whatever you wake up to worry over, then you will be able to go back to sleep more easily. After a while, maybe you will stop waking so much to begin with.
I know that I got "pregnancy amnesia" when I first was pregnant. But the problem was that it never seemed to go away... b/c then came the sleep deprivation, etc.. After a while, I stopped worrying that I would miss something and guess what? I don't "miss" any more stuff than I did when I WAS worrying about it.
I know it is stressful for you, but the worry just adds to the stress and isn't productive.
I hope this idea (or something someone else might suggest) works for you.

Hi Kristy,
I have Grave's Dz. It's a problem with my thyroid, and it goes hyper and hypo. Your symptoms remind me when I was first diagnosed with hyperthyroid dz and was confirmed with a simple blood test. See your physician and discuss it with him/her. You'll be surprised how much your thyroid effects your sleep and your mind. I sleep much better now. If it's normal, then you can think of ways to relax. Yoga's helped me with that, and even helps me relax when I'm having an asthma attack.