Too many long days and sleepless nights can wear the body ragged. They can lead to tiredness and fatigue, dulled reflexes and reaction time, and even a decreased resistance that causes you to get sick more often. But is there anything you can do about it, other than taking some sort of pill to help you fall asleep? In most cases, the answer is yes.

Insomnia isn’t fun… very few people enjoy seeing the sun rise after laying in bed trying to sleep for hours. In many cases, however, insomnia is perfectly treatable… even chronic insomnia, and all without a visit to the doctor or a trip to the drug store.

The Myth of Peace and Quiet

Often people think that in order to get over their sleeplessness, they need to find a perfectly quiet place to lay down, and the lack of noise and activity will lull them asleep. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places that can be considered truly “quiet”… no matter where you go, you’ll probably still be able to hear birds, bugs, environmental sounds, and usually even the sounds of cars or trucks in the distance. If you’re thinking that a perfect, serene locale is what you need to find, keep looking.

On top of the difficulty of finding peace and quiet, you need to take into consideration that most people are used to some form of noise when they sleep. Chances are you’ve been hearing some common noises just about every night of your life, and if you get rid of them completely you’ll discover that it’s harder to catch some z’s than it was before. That’s not saying that you shouldn’t try to get rid of loud or obnoxious noises; one solution that you might consider is getting a CD player or radio with a timer to drown out other small sounds, and let it play softly in the room where you’re trying to sleep. Pick music that you like, and that relaxes you… with any luck, you’ll be sleeping before the timer stops it from playing.