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Take a supplement
The problem: Melatonin, known as the Dracula of hormones because it comes out in the dark (the pineal gland starts secreting it at about 9 p.m.), decreases as you age and may be low in women with certain illnesses, including bulimia and fibromyalgia. If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, your body may not produce enough — or may secrete it late.

The solution: Take a melatonin supplement in the evening to fall asleep faster.

Why it works: In normal sleepers, the body produces enough melatonin at night to induce drowsiness. Melatonin supplements may promote sleep for those who have trouble falling asleep, Zee says. One caveat: While it doesn't affect the content of dreams, it can make nightmares more vivid.

The challenge: Our significant other clocked us falling asleep only about five minutes faster after taking melatonin. We still woke up twice during the night.

Investigate sleeping pills
The problem: You lie in bed, unable to fall asleep until 2 or 3 a.m. — and this has been going on for a full week.

The solution: Although the latest sleeping pill ads make it sound like medication is a panacea, it’s not. "Ambien and other drugs that are similar, like Lunesta, are best for acute situational insomnia — to use for a few days if you're going through a stressful time or as a treatment for jet lag," Mahowald says. "They're expensive — $3 to $4 per tablet — and in some people they cause odd behavior during sleep, like eating or driving. It doesn't happen often, but it's a possibility."

The pleasure principle Think your life is rougher than that guy's in the next cubicle? You might be right. A recent study by Princeton economist Alan Krueger and several psychologists found that over the past four decades, men have, on average, gradually increased activities that they enjoy and pared down those they find unpleasant. Women, however, spend almost the same amount of time on disagreeable tasks. Women used to spend 40 more minutes a week doing unpleasant chores than a typical man; today the divide is 90 minutes. Narrow the gap yourself — whether with a new pair of shoes or a work-free week. "Depressed people often find they're devoting a lot of time to things that don't give them pleasure. They just need to change how they divide their days," says Todd Kashdan, professor of psychology at George Mason University. "Everyone says, 'Well, I know that,' but most people aren't doing it." He suggests making an actual list of things that you find the most pleasurable, so you focus on doing them more often.

Why it works: Nonbenzodiazepines such as Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata bind with receptors in the brain that trigger sleep. "Medication can prevent a short-term problem from becoming entrenched," Mahowald says. But don't expect miracles. An analysis of sleeping-pill studies financed by the National Institutes of Health shows that these pills reduce the average time it takes to get to sleep by 12.8 minutes compared with a placebo and increase total sleep time by 11.4 minutes. People may think they work better than that because they might cause mild amnesia, says Daniel Kripke, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego and the codirector of research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in San Diego — you can't remember if you woke up. The newest sleep medication, Rozerem, stimulates melatonin receptors in the part of the brain that controls circadian rhythms, so it may help people whose body clocks are off. But it only gets you to sleep 7 to 16 minutes faster than a placebo, and increases total sleep time 11 to 19 minutes, according to one analysis. (Rozerem reportedly is not likely to cause amnesia.)

The challenge: We tried Ambien for three nights during a spell of sleeplessness, and it seemed to knock us out every time — and we felt refreshed the next day. We also tried it on a plane — and zonked out until, four hours later, the flight attendant jerked our seat back to its original upright position.

Adjust your attitude
The problem: If sleep has eluded you for at least three weeks and you find yourself extremely anxious about lying awake at night, you might benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy. "People who have had insomnia for a while often start worrying about sleep," Zee says. "They tell themselves, 'I"ll never get to sleep tonight, and I'll be exhausted tomorrow morning.' That's how short-term insomnia becomes a more entrenched problem." CBT can work for a variety of issues — trouble falling or staying asleep, and restless sleep.

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The solution: CBT is designed to address the factors that underlie chronic insomnia. "For instance, people think there's something wrong with them if they wake up in the middle of the night, so when it happens, they look at the clock and start to worry, which prevents them from getting back to sleep," Walsleben says. A CBT therapist would explain that sleep is made up of both deep and light phases, and it can be perfectly normal to awaken every 90 minutes or so. "Instead of worrying, we tell patients to congratulate themselves for sleeping so normally and let their bodies drift off again," Walsleben says.

Why it works: "CBT gives you the basic skills you need to sleep better — and it helps you understand the structure of sleep, which is enormously reassuring," Walsleben says. Researchers from the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, recently reported that after just four sessions of CBT, nearly 60 percent of people saw a significant improvement.

The challenge: We've often wondered whether our panic about never sleeping well was a self-fulfilling prophecy — and it turns out, it was. We found we tossed and turned less once we told ourselves that we didn't have a larger sleep issue.

Restrict sleep
The problem: You lie in bed for eight hours, but you sleep five — and you're exhausted come morning. "After a few nights of insomnia, some people associate their bed with being awake, and they can't fall asleep," Mahowald says.

Click for related content Poll: Which shut-eye strategy will you try?

The solution: Figure out how much time you actually sleep at night, and then start limiting your total time in bed to just below that amount. If you normally sleep five hours, say, restrict yourself to four in bed. After a few days, you’ll get so tired, you'll start sleeping the whole time you're in bed. Then, go to bed 15 minutes earlier each night until you're sleeping seven or eight hours. If you start tossing and turning, reduce your time in bed by 15 minutes and build up again gradually.

Why it works: "This works because you build up a sleep debt — your body's homeostatic drive to sleep becomes stronger and stronger when you're sleep-deprived — so you end up spending more of your time in bed actually sleeping," Mahowald says. "After a few nights, you start associating your bed with sleep instead of insomnia."

The challenge: Like a strict diet, this approach felt nearly Draconian. We forced ourselves to restrict our sleep to four hours for five days, and we felt exhausted and depressed — and we came down with a cold. But, like a strict diet, it started working. After two weeks, we were sleeping seven hours a night.

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