Sleep, or no sleep, cant get to sleep cant stay asleep, stress, pain, noise, wake up too early, bad dreams, nightmares, washroom needs... I don't think I know of anyone who consistently has good night's sleep. So many reasons and a lot of medications cause insomnia, or help with sleep. Those of us with illness, depression, anxiety, numerous meds.. it is so hard to figure it all out.
Also our winter furnace is under my bedroom and there is no escape from the gas-heated motor noise about 4 times a night...I dont want to wear ear plugs as I listen to tapes.. also want to hear if smoke detector goes off!.... also I had insomnia for many months during the past years while dealing with depression.
But one thing came to mind this evening and it was many years ago, in the days when I slept well with the odd night that I didnt. I had returned home from out of town hospital after radiation to pelvis for cancer and had been put on Hormone meds as female organs had been radiated/zapped. After a few months I returned to work and slept reasonably well for a few years! Then came the news that Hormone meds increased chances of breast cancer and I decided to stop those meds. Well, for the next five months or so (off the pills) I woke up every single night and the odd thing was it was around 4am, got back to sleep till up for work. Then I decided to go back on meds and believe it or not, the very first night I went back on those meds I slept through the night and for the next few years I was on them I mostly slept through the night - when I didn't it was waking at various times.
So I just thought I would throw this out there, although may have been discussed before: perhaps check the information sheets that we get with our meds and see if they cause your insomnia.... just an idea. J.S. p.s. I had to go back on Clonazepam and now gets periods of sleep for several hours at a time, in combination with relaxation tapes from utube, but it's better than the sleepness nights I had while off that med and one night I did not sleep at all.