Tonight's Read-in-Bed Sleep Solutions

from “Why Count Sheep When You Can SLEEP?”(www.rosestreetpress.com)

Try 'em! Real tips from real people that really work:

• Pretend you’re floating, like the lone white feather in the opening scene of “Forrest Gump.” Softly tumble to the ground, swirling and flying as long as you can before hitting the sidewalk. Repeat this over and over.

• Imagine the Empire State Building in hot pink, then turquoise or deep purple. Keep changing the colors at random.

• Recite the Fibonacci sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc., as far as you can go. (Each number is the sum of the previous two, e.g., 1+1=2; 2+1=3; 3+2=5; 5+3=8; 8+5=13, etc.)

Insomnia 101 --Tips for getting some zzzzzs

This week's tips -- (Let me know if they work for you.)

From me: Count numbers.

Did you ever see those old black and white TV newsreels, where the numbers zip down from 10 to 1 in a big fuzzy circle? OK, now picture that screen, with a new number from 1 to 300 each time, changing the numbers v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

Or just imagine the numbers and no circle, from 1 to 300, excruciatingly s-l-o-w-l-y. Try puffy white clouds or pink, polka dot numbers, if you prefer -- whatever you feel like watching that night.

Contributed tips:

When insomnia raises its ugly head, I just lie there and listen to my cat Miro purr. I get my breathing in sync with his purring and before long I am back to sleep.

-- Pablo Solomon
pablosolomon.com

My husband is an aural kind of buy, very into music. When he can't sleep, he grabs his CD player, which has a Delta sleep CD in it and plays it.

I am a visual woman so I grab my flax and lavender eye pillow and cover my eyes. At the same time, I do a deep breathing yoga/meditation exercise.

-- Jill Nussinow, MS, RD
www.theveggiequeen.com