If insomnia is derailing your sleep, a prescription sleeping pill may not be the best cure. Here are some options to explore:

    Practice good "sleep hygiene." This does not mean making sure your bedding is clean! It means following good sleep habits, especially ensuring the bedroom environment is conducive to sleep. Among experts' recommendations: Use the bedroom only for sleep and sex; keep regular sleep and wake times; eliminate afternoon caffeine; banish pets （and snoring partners） from the bedroom; ensure the bedroom is a dark, cool, quiet place; and get computers and TVs out of the sleep environment, because they stimulate the brain and their light tells the body "it's daytime," disrupting the internal clock.

    Break the rules when necessary.While experts' common-sense recommendations about sleep hygiene should be the first line of defense against insomnia, selectively breaking them can sometimes help, too. TV isn't recommended, for example, but a DVD or show （make it a boring one） may put some people to sleep. "Listen to experts' rules; don't throw them out," says Gayle Greene, 65, a lifelong insomniac who has learned to cope. But "bend them, make them work for you."

    Develop a pre-bed relaxation ritual."Adults need these rituals, too," says Meir Kryger, director of sleep research and education at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Conn. "You'd be amazed at how helpful they can actually be." To develop a nonstimulating evening ritual, you might recall what your parents did when you were young to get you in sleep mode. Or try taking a hot bath or sipping a warm cup of chamomile tea; either will raise your core body temperature, which leads to a drowsy feeling as you cool down, says Lisa Shives, medical director of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Ill.

    Try not to self-medicate."I personally don't recommend that people just go out and treat themselves with over-the-counter medications," says Kryger. "They never solve the problem; they'll just help you get through." Pharmacies certainly offer lots of sleep remedies. There are antihistamines, like Benadryl, which have a sedative side effect. （The ingredient that causes drowsiness is also found in products like Tylenol PM and Advil PM.） But those medications can induce next-day grogginess-what some patients call "sleep hangovers"-and they can actually have an alerting or a disorienting effect on the elderly, says Shives. Other OTC options include melatonin supplements and valerian extracts, although evidence of the effectiveness of either is slim, a National Institutes of Health insomnia consensus panel concluded in 2005. And, as Shives says of melatonin, valerian, and similar substances, "Nobody's regulating this stuff."

    Don't drink to sleep.Sure, sloshing down a little Pinot Noir will put you to sleep, but as the alcohol is metabolized by the body, it fragments sleep, which tends to cause nighttime awakenings and next-day tiredness. "People have the misconception that alcohol helps," says Ralph Downey III, chief of sleep medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. "It doesn't."

    Create a barrier between work and sleep.You want to have some sort of break from the day's stress before sleep, advises Lawrence Epstein, medical director of Sleep HealthCenters in Boston and coauthor of The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep. If you know you're going to bed at 10:30, stop your day at 10:15, or sooner if you can. Shortchanging that break can be a recipe for insomnia. Write down all the things you need to worry about on a piece of paper, and do your best to leave them behind. Whether asleep or awake, there's likely nothing you can do about them until tomorrow, anyway.

    Don't "catastrophize." People who can't sleep tend to compound the problem by fretting about the consequences of their sleeplessness, like the possibility that they'll do a bad job at work and get fired. Catastrophizing a sleep problem, however, tends to further engrain it, says Shives. "I try to get [people] to calm down," she says. "But that's kind of like telling a depressed person to perk up."

    如果你的睡眠不规律，一张安眠药的药方单也许并非最佳良药。还有以下方法，可供选择：

    保持良好的"睡眠卫生".并不是指保持床上用品干净！"睡眠卫生"是指养成良好的睡眠习惯，尤其是保证卧室环境有益于睡眠。专家的建议包括：将卧室只用于睡觉和做爱；保持规律的作息时间；在下午杜绝一切咖啡因成分；不要让宠物（或打鼾的伴侣）留在卧室里；确保卧室黑暗、凉爽、安静；而且不要在睡眠环境中摆放电脑或电视，因为它们会刺激大脑，而且它们发出的灯光会暗示身体"天亮了",会打乱体内的生物钟。

    必要时，打破规律。专家们有关睡眠卫生的常识性建议应该作为对抗失眠的首要准则，但选择性地违反其中几条也会带来帮助。例如，通常是不推荐看电视的，但一张DVD光碟或秀（比较无聊的那种）也可能以让人犯困。"听专家的建议，并接受它们",现年65岁的嘉乐。格林（Gayle Greene）说道，他一生都患有失眠，并已经掌握应对方法。"但可以'改善它们',让她们为你所用。"

    养成睡前放松的习惯。康涅狄格州沃灵福德市的加洛德医院（Gaylord Hospital）的睡眠研究和教育主任梅尔。克瑞格（Meir Kryger）表示，"成年人也同样需要这些习惯，你可能会对这些习惯的实际效果大吃一惊。"为了养成非刺激性的晚间习惯，你应该回忆一下小时候你的父母是如何哄你睡觉的。或者尝试洗一个热水澡或饮一杯温柑橘茶；或提高你的体内温度，而当你体温降下来的时候，你将会觉得昏昏欲睡，伊利诺斯州艾瓦斯顿的北岸睡眠医疗中心（Northshore Sleep Medicine）的医疗主任丽萨。谢福思（Lisa Shives）这样说道。

    不要尝试给自己开药。克瑞格说道，"我个人非常不建议人们简单地跑到街角医院，给自己胡乱开药。这些药不会解决问题；它们只能短时间内帮助你。"药房当然会提供许多睡眠治疗药物。它们是一些抗组胺剂（如苯海拉明）,具有镇静剂一般的副作用。（引起睡意的成分还在其它产品中发现，如Tylenol PM 和Advil PM.）但这些药物可能导致第二天站立不稳-也就是所谓的"睡眠'宿醉'".谢福思还说道，这些药物可能导致老年人变得警惕或迷失方向。其它OTC药物（包括褪黑素补充剂和缬草提取物）,国立卫生研究所的失眠共识委员会于2005年得出结论，显示其效果极为微弱。而且谢福思还提到褪黑素、缬草和相似物质，"没有人对这些原料加以规定。"

    不要为了睡眠饮酒。诚然，饮下一小杯黑比诺会帮助你入睡，但作为酒精，它促进身体的新陈代谢，会让睡眠变得不连贯，会导致"夜醒"和第二天的乏累。加利福尼亚州的洛马连达大学医学中心的睡眠医学主任，拉尔夫。当尼三世说道，"许多人的思想中有这样的误区，觉得酒精可以帮助睡眠，但事实上并非如此。"

    在工作和睡眠制造一道屏障。波士顿睡眠健康中心的医疗督导，同时也是哈佛医学院良好晚间睡眠指南的合着者，劳伦斯。爱普斯顿（Lawrence Epstein）建议，"在睡觉之前，你需要从白天的压力中解脱出来。如果你计划在10:30上床就寝，那么在10:15结束一天的活动，或尽可能早地结束。

    这样的休息可以作为治疗失眠的药方。将所有你觉得烦恼的事情写在一张纸上，尽可能地忘掉它们。不论你是睡是醒，这些烦恼的事情都要等到第二天才能解决。

    不要"小题大做".睡眠不好的人容易将这个问题同其它问题加以联系，担心失眠的后果，如可能做不好工作，被炒鱿鱼。谢福斯说道，"将睡眠问题小题大做容易让问题变得根深蒂固"."我试图（让人们）冷静",她继续说道，"但这就好像是劝绝望的人振作起来".