Insomnia. This condition has been the bane of my existence since I was a small child, and my quest to find insomnia cures has led me to the most ridiculous ends. I say that to lend sincere empathy and hope to you if you suffer sleeplessness. Perhaps my research and efforts can help stop you from ending up in the same dark alleys as I have, just from trying to alleviate the agony of persistent sleeplessness. Maybe you've already been down those horrid roads yourself, and if that's the case I truly sympathize and offer you sincere optimism.

As it happens you may have arrived here just because you care deeply for someone with insomnia, and you wish to help. Either way, the words and advice you will read here are worth their weight in gold. My experiences in chasing away this sickness are truly epic in proportion, and as a result, my solutions have worked to help many.

I certainly won't tell you that there is one magical formula to beating insomnia because there is simply no one miracle cure. Each case has an individual set of symptoms, some lifestyle issues and some psychological and/or medical in nature. There are reasonable and appreciable steps that can be taken that will help, and using these steps over time in a partnership with adopting proper sleep hygiene techniques can lead you to a good night's sleep on demand.

Having said that, it should be noted that pharmacology has made incredible advancements in sleep aids and these pills do have a great appeal to those afflicted with insomnia, but using them comes at potentially a very steep price. Under no circumstances do I condone or promote the use of medications to treat chronic insomnia for any length of time over one week, even though these pills work almost magically. Here's why:

* Most sleeping pills become redundant and over time and you will need to take more and more to achieve the desired effect.

* Sleeping pills will negatively affect your short term memory; I'll get back to you in 10 years to let you know if it affects long term memory.

* Modern sleeping aids, called benzodiazepines, can place you in a trance-like state of sleepwalking, sleep eating, or sleep*insert embarrassing activity here*. Take it from personal experience and my own research into the subject, this happens a great deal more than is reported. There are stories of adverse drug reactions that range from the mildly comical to the absolutely tragic.

* A cold turkey withdrawal from these medications is akin to being driven quickly insane. I am not exaggerating in the least - there are many case studies wherein this has proven true. In fact withdrawing from certain commonly prescribed sleep aids (such as Xanax) have been reported to lead to prolonged and semi-permanent depressive disorders. Also a complete withdrawal from these substances can take up to 6 months or more, and most general practitioners are not really up on this fact when they prescribe these drugs.

So alas, it really doesn't work for me to just throw up links and send you on your merry way to a magic pill or cure, without you being fully armed with knowledge. That knowledge is this: with chronic insomnia you have to adopt a multi-phaseal approach to treating the condition. If your condition is acute in nature, there are some excellent techniques and products that will soothe your nerves and slow down your mind enough to fall into blissful slumber. In some instances these remedies even helped me on occasion, even though I am what you would call a hard core chronic case. So if you are not suffering insomnia in a chronic or long term capacity I really suggest you try some of the helpful links listed on my site.

Unfortunately, if your insomnia is of a more chronic nature then buckle down because it does take time and experimenting to find what works best for you. Read on, ask away, learn and interact, and eventually you will discover that sleeping is not as elusive as you may think. There are some very effective insomnia cures and research on my blog and what is not listed can be, just suggest it. We can recognize the problem, and once you can recognize it you can solve it.