Good for you Caroline, less side effects. A routine is the secret and personally I also put on a mindfullness relaxation tape (MP3) on with lights etc off. Lasts about 20 minutes but find it takes my mind off most things.

Good luck with that.

Normally I don’t have too much trouble sleeping, but I have occasionally taken inositol. I’ve found that the combination of choline & inositol seems to work better for me than just inositol. I like the capsules from Twinlab that have 250 mg of each, and taking one late at night usually works well for me.

I too have used the combo caps but right now just inositol. I'm so THANKFUL how great I'm sleeping as my wake up hours are too rugged. My above routine WORKS.

Hi Caroline, so glad you developed a sleep routine that is effective for you. I see that you use only a small dose of melatonin taken very early in the p.m. Did you try larger doses of melatonin, and if so, did they not work very well for you?

Melatonin and I don’t get along very well together. It is a matter of dosage. Small doses are not very effective for me, but larger doses keep me awake once I have gotten up during the night. Taking choline & inositol is a much better alternative for me.

Caroline, I used to have problems with insomnia.

I have found that learning and applying what is called sleep hygiene is very effective. Essentially sleep hygiene means developing good habits in preparation for sleeping well.

There some ideas about it here; http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/...vercoming/tips .

Sleep hygiene works for me with no need for prescription or OTC medication.

Yes, a good Geology textbook is a good way to kick off to sleep! LOL Just reading all the strange names of minerals and rocks seems to glaze me over.

I also read quiet type books before bed. The Mists of Avalon took me several weeks to get thru this way! A little each night.
I visit WetCanvas forum and read the watercolor forum each night. It seems to put my right brain to sleep quickly (1/2 hr). I use my phone in bed so I don't have to walk around to get to the bedroom.
People from all over the world share their art work and tricks of the trade and that is handy information for me to have as well.

I found Melatonin was raising my blood sugars...so I stopped it.
I take two Arthritis formula Acetaminophens from Walgreen's for my pain issues. They last a long time and enable sleep.
Sometimes I need aspirin--so it would be AlkaSeltzer at night those days, but I do this sparingly.

NO TV in our bedroom.

I hadn’t heard before that melatonin could raise blood sugar. Normally I watch for such an effect when I try out a new supplement, and so far the only problem I’ve had is with krill oil which I now use only occasionally.

The website naturalsleep.org has some interesting articles on various issues related to sleep. Here is a link on side effects of melatonin:

http://www.naturalsleep.org/side-eff...onin/#more-169

hi water willow,
would you please give an example of the tapes you use. there are so many out there. thanks, Diandra

My sleep continues to be good following what I've posted on what I DO. I've also been taking Iosol Iodine for years..mostly because I've read so much about iodine deficiency in the U.S. and also breast health. I KNOW it helps my body.

Many report more energy overall, and I've read some report they get better sleep too. Maybe that's another good reason I sleep good, taking Iosol so long too.

I just read a bunch of reviews on iherb on Iosol and some report better sleep and of course the added energy. I've talked about iodine dosing enough here at NT. Lots of research out there. C

This morning I woke at 5AM and was fearful that I could not go back to sleep. So instead of an inositol capsule, I took a Calms Forte' tab and slept until almost 8:30AM and could have slept longer but forced myself to start getting up. Was dreaming again too. I hope that others are trying some of these with success. A person on another group is talking about the **** of ambien and wants off it, but her doc keeps pushing it...grrrrrr Many are advising her to get off it on her own, slowly etc...I think she says she is taking it over 3 yrs and still having tough sleep.