LV I usually combine regular calming teas and a glass of warm milk and honey. If I go to bed too early like 11pm, I will be up by 4, so I go to bed around 1 wake up at 7:30 and I do not have to be at work until 9. Six hours is the most I can get. On weekends, I sleep eight hours or so. Insomnia is very little understood and generally docs do not want to treat it. I got lucky on primary care physician who understand my condition and sent me to various studies. Overall, there is a danger of getting adicted to sleeping pills and many people abuse it. Other continues to increase the dose and combine it with alcohol which is a lethal combination. Therefore, it is crucial to find a balance between getting a good sleep twice per week and cope with insomnia from time to time. As I got older my insomnia episodes are less frequent, maybe once every 8-10 weeks. Still I would recommend talking to doctor and not let yourself self medicate and self diagnose. I would be extremely carefull on over the counter stuff, as people react to them differently. Melatonin did nothing for me even with the strongest dose. Lunesta made me drowsy, upset my stomach, and gave me a horrible headaches that lasted for two to three days. 2.5mg of ambien works best because it is extremely small dose and work within your system quickly. I do not have side effect like headache, nor upset stomach.
Ginger tea, mint, lavender, lemon, passiflora and orange teas are best as relaxation before bedtime. One tea cup is enough. You do not have to drink a liter of it before bedtime because the amount can stress your heart. Also I would be carefull with other herbs, where St. John worth can create over sensitivity on sun and cause you sunburn quickly. It was well used torture plant by Romans who forced condemned to drink it so they would develop painful sun blisters.