I read your article about getting adequate sleep. This has never been a problem for me until the last few years. I've always been an early-to-bed, early-to-rise person and have never fought it. I like my sleep, and I like the way I feel when I'm rested.

HOWEVER... increasingly in the last few years I suffer from insomnia. Generally it's only one or two nights a month, and not even consecutive, so I don't suffer greatly. Often, I quite enjoy those quiet night hours alone. This month, though, I had almost a straight week of it. Six hours sleep one night, 3.5 the next, 5 hours, then 3. Last night - thank goodness! - I got 7.5, and I feel a little better, though I'm clearly still suffering a deficit.

I'm assuming (since I'm in my mid-forties) that this is yet another perimenopausal symptom. Woo.Hoo.

Any advice and input for dealing with insomnia, including natural remedies, would be most appreciated. I have a very strong (and largely irrational aversion) to the idea of sleeping pills, but any other ideas?