Sleeping Problems, Insomnia? Is my schedule to crammed? Herbal(Tea, Marijuana) vs Synthetic(Ambien, Lunesta)?

Well, I am a 19 year old SOBER dude from Cali who seems to have trouble falling asleep, and staying asleep. I go to school from 5pm to midnight and I usually get home around 1am. I take a shower and hop in bed. I'll watch tv until I feel a little sleepy then I kill the lights(usually around 2-2:30 am or so). With the lights off I lay there unable to fall asleep for sometimes up to 2 horus. Even though I feel tired I just cant seem to fall asleep. Once I actually do fall asleep I wake up every 1-2 hours for no reason and then it takes about 15 minutes to doze off again. This happens twice to three times a night and then i have to wake up at 10am and do as much hw as i can before my internship, which is from noon to 3pm. Then I hit the road to get to class at 5 and the cycle repeats(keep in mind I live in LA, traffic is horrible.) Ive tried natural stuff like teas and melatonin but they only worked for a few days. I want to take something herbal rather than synthetic. Any suggestions?
Foods rich in Tryptophan will help induce natural sleep and aid in reducing anxiety and tension.

Avoid caffeine for a few hours before bedtime too.

foods rich in Tryptophan are ~ bananas, cottage cheese, milk, meat, fish, turkey, bananas, dried dates, peanuts and all protein rich foods ............. turkey sandwiches for supper may just do the trick buddy......... :0)

Have a soothing cup of organic loose leaf chamomile tea ~ this could be the sleep remedy you need too?

The tea bag and commercial varieties of herbal teas such as chamomile tea could never be of any therapeutic value as they have had so much of the essential oils pulverised from them .......... only organic will do buddy ?

Also, try putting a few drops of pure essential lavender oil into a warm bath and soak in that for 15 minutes just before bedtime ~ the lavender oil is a great natural stress reliever and will relax you enormously ?

Have you tried 1mg of melatonin sublingually (dissolved under the tongue as opposed to tablet form??) 15 minutes before bedtime?any good health food store will be able to provide you with all these things?

Naturally resolving the problem will always be the best way .... :0)

hope this helps you a bit ?

cheers
?
Thanx buddy, drink water water water and ditch the sodas and soft drinks ......... ;0)

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"Foods rich in Tryptophan will help induce natural sleep "
MYTH
Popular belief, but has not proven to be true. Report It
How many caffeinated drinks do you pound down every day? If you are drinking energy drinks to get you going in the morning, then drinking caffeinated pop all day long, that's your answer. People yoyo between caffeine then try other drugs to get to sleep. If you would wean yourself off of the caffeine, once the inevitable headaches subside, you would find it much easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
the homeopathic remedy "Calms Forte" might be helpful. it's available at most drug stores, as well as health stores. acupuncture can also be very effective.
Hold your horses. Calm down. Even a Rolls-Royce engine gets tired in this speed. Relaxation,cup of warm milk and meditation should help.
Kill the TV. Electronics within an hour of bedtime can often create more stimulation than relaxation. Also, does your shower wake you up or relax you? I can't shower at night because the warm water really makes me alert.

Also, in the LA area there's a chain of dollar stores (99c Only Stores) that carry an herbal product called Kava Kava. It's a great relaxant and helps you doze off and stay there.

Another way to help your brain shut off so you can get to sleep is to recite a list of something or some other memorized piece. Do you know the elements of the periodic table, or the Books of the Bible, or the capitals of all 50 states, or any list like that? If not, can you recite anything that takes you about 10 minutes to say? If you're Christian, try learning and reciting Romans 8 or I Cor 13. Both are really good for this. Very quietly and slowly recite this piece or list. Concentrate on it. This will help your brain out of its gotta-get-everything-done-right-NOW cycle and into relaxation mode. Try it for a week and see if it helps.