My Doc gives me Doxepin for a sleep aid, works great. 50mg

I know people who swear by it (CBD) and when I was at Clifftop last year I was given some CBD ointment for my thumb arthritis and it relieved my pain within the hour.

What I do when I can't sleep and my mind is 'on a roll' is to focus my attention to the 'here and now' and set aside all thoughts (although that is hard ) and with a quiet mind is quickly fall asleep..

The VA/TN state line runs down State St. here in Bristol. VA has liberalized their cannabis laws, and that side of the street hosts several "head shops," and their products are all over the place these days. From my very limited experience, I'd guess a "gummy" might well help with insomnia, but it might depend a lot on the individual.
Personally, my favorite sleep aid is a cup of Celestial Seasonings "Sleepytime" tea with honey. I'm sure its all in my head, but the sight of the bear in his nightcap makes me want to join him.

My feeling would be Doug's little bear in his nightcap is the best option...lol.

This week I need to renew my CBD oil script, I wont buy gummies from internet.

It reduces inflammation and helps me sleep, but I still practice the 'here and now'.

Mostly it improves mood and energy levels which motivates me to practice fiddle for hours.

But that's how it effects me, others might be different.

Haven’t tried it, but lately I use a trick my friend taught me…

‘Think about 5 things you hear. Think of 5 things you see. Think of 5 things you feel. Etc….’
I never make it to the end of the list!

The other thing I do is start mentally listing each thing I ate that day, and classifying them into food groups…I never make it to the end of that either. (I don’t really eat that much, haha).

I also used to do the thing where you relax each muscle of your body, one by one…

A while back I noticed that I “see” things in my mind when I’m just falling asleep. There’s nothing significant about the images that float through my consciousness at that time -- they seem to be random images that come and go quite quickly.

So at times that I wanted to go to sleep I started trying to conjure up some metal images. I didn’t want to make it too interesting or stimulating so I kept it simple, visualizing numbers or letters. My go-to strategy is to let my eyes follow the contours of numbers: 9...8...7...etc. Most often I drift off before I get to 1.

My fav is “8”. I seem to like letting my eyes roll around the two round circles of that number. Yeh, I know it’s a little strange...

I also notice that my breathing slows down as I do the visualization. I believe that sleeping people breathe slowly (dunno if that’s really true) and I have heard that some people deliberately try to slow their breathing, mimicking the sleeping pattern. I tried that, but it didn’t do much for me.

All this is mildly weird, but visualizing the shape of numbers does seem to work for me...

Also, my wife thinks that peanut butter contains some super sleep-inducing ingredient. So, when all else fails, a little shot of PB might be just the ticket...

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Originally posted by Strabo

A while back I noticed that I “see” things in my mind when I’m just falling asleep. There’s nothing significant about the images that float through my consciousness at that time -- they seem to be random images that come and go quite quickly.

So at times that I wanted to go to sleep I started trying to conjure up some metal images. I didn’t want to make it too interesting or stimulating so I kept it simple, visualizing numbers or letters. My go-to strategy is to let my eyes follow the contours of numbers: 9...8...7...etc. Most often I drift off before I get to 1.

My fav is “8”. I seem to like letting my eyes roll around the two round circles of that number. Yeh, I know it’s a little strange...

I also notice that my breathing slows down as I do the visualization. I believe that sleeping people breathe slowly (dunno if that’s really true) and I have heard that some people deliberately try to slow their breathing, mimicking the sleeping pattern. I tried that, but it didn’t do much for me.

All this is mildly weird, but visualizing the shape of numbers does seem to work for me...

Also, my wife thinks that peanut butter contains some super sleep-inducing ingredient. So, when all else fails, a little shot of PB might be just the ticket...

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"YES" about the peanut butter..

OK. The suggestions about "stilling the mind" is good, but... some nights I struggle with this more than others. There are nights that pass - and I can't really say that I sleep at all. It was more like lying still and getting physical rest without sleeping - maybe dozing off here an there - but then being made aware that I'm not sleeping but just lying still. The next day I'm rested physically, but mentally I can tell.

Peanut butter... ha, well... my latest late night craving is to put extra crunchy peanut butter on a Chips Ahoy extra chocolate chip cookie. It sure satisfies the craving - but not sure if it has really done much as a sleep aid. Never thought of it.

I guess I need to talk with the Doc. I've mentioned this to him once before. He was the one that told me about the problem with Melatonin, and offered to write a prescription. I said no - didn't want to be taking more pills. And I'm reluctant to talk about CBD - I guess becasue of what it might imply.

Friends are swearing by their medical marijuana. But I just want to get a good night sleep - regularly.

I' don't know about law in your state but I'd search for a grower who has a strain with plenty of CBD and a really low amount of THC preferably a strain with lots of indica genes,  as an indica is still percepted by most recreational users to have more of an effect on body than mind (heavy limbs and a cozy feeling wanting you to lay down and just take a nap) You could safely use it to make some oil with which can be consumed in several possible ways without having to inhale any smoke , or butter so you can make edibles (other processes are possible as well) The amount of THC should be very low if you are not used to it. I think around 3-5 % maybe should do the trick. Some studies have found that CBD reduces the risk on unwanted effects of THC like a bit paranoid thoughts.

I am with the people who swear by medical marijuana, as these medical strains are often exactly like I described.

When it's too commercial , you can only guess and hope it's the real thing and not some synthetic rubbish product.

Other thoughts : self hypnosis . I one day read a book that guided you through the making of an audio tape (best is to let someone with a neutral voice do the job , listening to your own voice can be distracting as I found out). It started off with a certain breathing technique where you focus on your chest , each time you inhale you think about how you 'push away' all daily stress with the movement of your chest  and when you exhale you focus on letting in calm thoughts. Then the text went on with starting to make your whole body feel heavy and cozy, starting with the tips of your toes all the way to the top of your head and then there was a switch to focus on how that heavy feeling becomes a very light weight feeling. It takes some practice, but I use this method when I am sleepless ...

I guess I should put more effort into falling asleep...which I don't do very well...my mind races about all the wrong decisions I made during the day...how unqualified I am to engage in anything I must try to do, about how I wish we lived close to friends, etc. etc. etc. Nighttime is the only time I can let my mind worry as it needs to do...during the day I have to try my best to act happy. Lol...sometimes you need the dark and quiet to let all that worry and doubt come out.

I have read though, that if you turn off lights, screens, etc. a while before going to bed your body will respond by making its own melatonin. Don't know if it works...I'm not in a position where I even have that much control over stuff.

Anyway, without enough worry time, I feel I could just pop...sometimes I feel that way anyway. I think I'm used to lack of sleep. The exhaustion doesn't bother me nearly as much as being full of emotions that have no escape route...that really, really bothers me.

I have my laptop by the bed; I put on some fiddle music that's not going to play all night, put the screen down to the dimmest setting, put my head on the pillow, and I'm asleep. Sometimes I'll wake up in the wee small hours of the morning; then I put on the radio and listen to some documentary from Australia or Ireland that CBC plays at that time, and if I don't fall back to sleep, I at least will learn something about politics in Africa or a medical discovery in Siberia or ........ zzzzzzzzz ........

For me - the room has to be dark, cool, quiet - except for a box fan that provides "white noise" - which is more important for me that air movement. I will have wandering thoughts - all kinds of thoughts. But if it starts getting too late - I try to discipline myself to be quiet mentally, lay flat on my back,  and at least get physical rest - even if I can't get to sleep.

A regular sleep cycle is important for good health.  And it needs to be a deep restful sleep, not a light "disturbing" sleep.

I'm sure a lot of this has to do with sleep apnea too. But I can't sleep with a mask and the added noise.

HA... and I will confess that sometimes - the key to falling to sleep is praying / meditating. I'm embarrassed to admit that sometimes I will fall asleep before the "amen" comes around.      

One of my super powers is the ability to take a Power Nap whenever/wherever I want. I read that a short daily nap for us oldsters is good for our health and that it should not keep us from sleeping at night.. That is true for me it seems..It is probably that there are as many reasons for good-sleep/bad-sleep as there are people!!! ..no magic bullet for most.

I used to try to sleep in my back but have post nasal drip so bad that I'll start with little niggling coughs and just can't fall asleep that way (unless it is the infrequent alcohol induced slumber). For decades I slept mostly on my right side. Since my divorce and having a bed to myself (and the overly warm dog), I sleep mostly on my left. And aside from the dog overheating me occasionally, I sleep better than ever. Go figure.

I have a hard time turning off the music in my head. What I do these days is put music on that I like (Irish trad mostly) that is barely audible over the fan (white noise for the win) and that seems to help. I listen to Clare FM rebroadcasts which are a couple hours long and they have an archive. There's a DJ who speaks in both English and Irish but mostly it's about having that song in my head, from dance gig or band practice, whatever, be over written with the new music. And because I'm not really actively listening, this seems to work for me. YMMV

Often, I'm asleep before the opening few tunes are done and the DJ comes on. 

When I focus on my breath I cant dwell on wondering thoughts. The thoughts always return, but that's my cue to re-focus on the breath. I also do this when on my daily walk. There are many aspects to the breath to focus on.

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Originally posted by buckhenry

When I focus on my breath I cant dwell on wondering thoughts. The thoughts always return, but that's my cue to re-focus on the breath. I also do this when on my daily walk. There are many aspects to the breath to focus on.

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I do this during my waking hours to quiet the never ending stream of music in my head. It's less effective at bedtime for some reason. Probably because much of my practice time is in the evenings and I like to let that linger so it sinks in 

music in my head

This is one of the '5 things' NC mentioned to hear.