Rich is a head to the pillow and sleeping kind of guy. Not me. Sometimes I fall sleep. Oftentimes I lie there, staring at the ceiling (or the inside of my eyelids). I relax but I don't always sleep.
At one time, when I was going through a period of having a lot of difficulty falling asleep, I tried a few of the over-the-counter non-prescription sleep aids. It turns out that most supposed sleep aids, e.g. Sominex, are just Benedryl! That's an antihistamine! The manufacturer is trying to take advantage of the side effect of antihistamines to make (some) people drowsy. Most antihistamines do nothing for me and none of them make me drowsy, so all that happened that time was that I lay awake with a really dry mouth. Yugh!
I tried "Calms Forte", an herbal "remedy"... it gave me much more active, colorful, busy dreams than even I get usually. When I made the connection, I stopped taking it! My dreams are busy enough (and sufficiently exhausting) without outside help. Alluna (valerian-based) seems to relax me (as does a dip in the hot tub before bed). I also have a bottle of melatonin but I haven't tried it.
My best and favorite sleep aid is a cat. If a kitty comes and lies on my chest or snuggles into my cheek or shoulder, I will usually fall asleep easily and fairly soon.
Most nights, Mezzaluna comes and lies on my chest, purring, licking, trilling. I rub her head, ears, stomach, chin. She purrs louder. She lays her paws on my hand or my face. Often I will drift off, to awaken later and discover she has left my chest and gone somewhere else to sleep and I never felt her go.
Squirrel also comes, usually to lie next to my head beside the pillow on my right. He snurrs (something between a purr and a snore) and, if I reach over to pet him, often wraps a paw around my hand to hug it close.
Bebop usually comes to my left side, where he cuddles, slurps my ears, or kneads my neck. Eventually he'll curl up on the pillow I keep on that side (just for him!) and snuggle tight into my shoulder, his cheek against mine. This morning, he came at about 7 am, stood on my chest and kneaded my collarbone for a while, then snuggled into position. We went back to sleep for another two hours.
Raven doesn't come sleep with me as much, yet, as the others, but he's practicing. He likes to snuggle. And it's many a morning that I wake to find him in the bed, somewhere. So even Raven does his share to help Vicki sleep.
FURomones (feline sleep molecules) — — the natural sleep aid.
Natural Sleep Aid - posted by Vicki at Sat, 15 May, 21:44 Pacific
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