So... What Do You Do When You Can't Sleep

Many nights I will fall asleep normally and then wake up a few hours later, wide awake. Very annoying. So what do I do when I can't sleep?I will journal or usually I grab a good book and try to let that lull me back to sleep. I wish I could say I always grab my Bible but that wouldn't be the truth. When I read the Bible it actually stimulates my brain and I start thinking and pondering, not a good thing to do when I need to fall asleep. Sounds horrible huh? Especially when you read verses that speak about meditating on scripture day and night, David talks about this quite a bit in his Psalms. But I can't just pick up my Bible and read, cause it will keep me up for hours. I will however pray. I will start ticking off my mental list of prayer requests and sometimes that will relax me. Something else is to ask God why am I awake? Sometimes as in the case of Samuel He has something He wants to alert me to or show me and in the "awake" hours I am too focused on me to hear or be aware of what He is showing me.

Other things I will try:

If there is a movie on that I like I will see if it can help my mind to zone out because usually its my brain that won't let me sleep. My favorite movie to lull me to sleep these days is the Illusionist. Not that its a snoozer, I actually like this movie. But its just a quiet type of film and the colors they use are mostly sepia and muted dark colors and for some reason, it relaxes me and I can fall asleep to it. So I will set the timer on the TV and hopefully sleep.

My last resort is to take a sleep aid. Most of these including prescriptions make me too groggy in the morning and I don't like how long it takes me to wake up. But if I am desperate and facing a long day ahead I will take one. The next day will be filled with caffeinated drinks. Mostly coffee.

Another thing a friend taught me to do when its my brain that won't let me go to sleep is to grab a blank notebook and some colored pencils or markers and just start doodling or writing out random words. This works sometimes for me, but many times it gets the creative juices flowing and just keeps the old brain on alert mode, so not such a good all time remedy.

So with all of my remedy's listed, what do you do when you can't sleep?