How to Beat INSOMNIA.

If you are counting sheep all night, you're not alone, because insomnia affects one in three Americans. However, it is an easily treated condition, argues Hrayr P. Attarian, assistant professor of neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (Mo.), and a member of the school's Sleep Disorders Center. "Insomnia is a prevalent and serious condition that is often missed or dismissed. Most of the time, it is treated with ineffectual means, frustrating both patient and physician."

Insomnia is a lack of quality sleep, not a lack of sleep per se. Some lucky people rise and shine after only a few hours. Although insomnia often is regarded as just a nuisance, it can have serious consequences, including excessive use of prescription medications, alcohol abuse, self-treatment with Over-the-counter stimulants, headaches, stomach upsets, motor vehicle accidents, and impairment on the job.

Attarian lists some common causes of insomnia:

Conditioning. You lie awake for a few nights worrying about the bills and conditioning yourself to lie awake for many nights thereafter.

Lifestyle. People who don't sleep well may drink coffee to prop open their eyes during the day and alcohol to numb their senses at night, making it harder not easier, to break the pattern.

Restless legs. One in 10 Americans get uncomfortable sensations that make them move their legs, and it's not easy to sleep when your legs are roaming around.

Apnea. If air can't get in or out of your nose or throat while you are asleep, you may develop this potentially life-threatening condition that interrupts your breathing and also can produce insomnia.

Abnormal rhythms make some people sleep when other people are awake. Then, they are awake when other people sleep.

Medical conditions--including Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, pain, allergies, and asthma--can deprive people of sleep.

Menopause disrupts the sleep of nearly half of middle-aged women, especially those who don't use hormone replacement therapy.

Old age can take its toll by altering brain function so people fall asleep early in the evening, wake early in the morning, or nap a lot.

Medications--including the newer antidepressants, prednisone (an anti-inflammatory drug), and some anticonvulsants--can...