•Limit your bed activities to sleep and sex.

•If you cannot sleep – get up and do something until you can sleep.

•If worries are keeping you awake, try journaling – it may provide a way for you to “release” worry onto paper and thus relax and sleep.

There are natural supplements that can be tried. If you are a milk drinker, consider having a glass of warm milk. Milk when it is warm releases tryptophan, same substance that was in that Thanksgiving turkey that had you napping. On other hand, I recently read that warm milk also has substances that can keep you awake. Let your own body tell you what it likes about milk.

Other suggestions include valerian root, melatonin, passion flower and of course chamomile, catnip, anise or fennel teas. Some companies package teas in their own formulations for sleep, such as "Sleepy Time". Your local herbalist or health food store may also be able to give you suggestions. As with anything else, key to try different things and see what you respond to.

If none of these suggestions work, I would recommend following. First of all, see your see your health care provider to ensure there is nothing physical that needs to be attended to. Keep a sleep diary for 3 months with goal to see if there is some sort of pattern. Keep track of time you go to bed, awaken, how often you are awake and/or up at night. Are you tired when you awaken in morning? What time are you getting up? Is there something that is on your mind? Does any of this correlate with your cycles (if you still have them).

Use of sleeping medication is something that can sometimes be used to get your body back on track, but it's not for long term use, and should only be used when other remedies have been ineffective.