Sleepless Nights

One of my biggest irritations in life is not getting enough good, quality sleep. At 27, I feel a bit like an old lady as I rarely stay awake past 11 PM, even on the weekends! I usually go upstairs around 10-10:15 and read for a few minutes and then pass out. I get up between 6:20-6:40 AM on work days(depends how many times I hit snooze...) and around 8 AM on weekends. I usually have no issues falling asleep.

TWICE this weekend, however, I could not fall into a deep sleep. The first was Sunday night, which I attribute to the 1.5 hour nap I took that afternoon. It was rainy, cool and I was tired and had Friday Night Lights, season 1 on. I assumed I would have no issues last night since I was pretty tired from Sunday.

I went to bed around 10:30 with a little bit of a headache and slept until 2:15. Then I was up for an hour! I could not fall asleep, my head was hurting, I was hot and the fan was making weird noises. J couldn't sleep either. After an hour of tossing and turning, I finally found some earplugs, took a BC Powder(which I normally HATE, but wanted something quick), and kicked-off the comforter, finally falling asleep a little after 3 AM.

I HATE that feeling of not falling asleep. I try everything, counting backwards, slow breathing...When I am away from home, I will take a OTC sleep aid(usually only 1/2 the suggested dosage), but try not to use it very much. I supposed I should have taken Tylenol PM when I first went to bed; there's no way I would have made it to work on time had I taken it at 2:30 AM!

So tell me, readers, what are your tricks for getting a good night's sleep?