Unfortunately there is no ultimate solution to solve insomnia.

Sedatives can be useful to break the cycle, but require a prescription from a doctor, and doctors are often reluctant to prescribe them. Sedatives also do not solve the cause of insomnia and may only work temporarily. Also keep in mind sedatives have a half life of maybe 4hrs, this means that after 4hrs its had its strongest impact and is working its way out of your system, so if you wake up through the night the medication will no longer be working and you may not fall back asleep. I recommend trying other more natural methods first before trying medication.

There is also a medication called melatonin available, it may be useful if the cause of insomnia is to do with a disruption in circadian rhythm as can be seen in jet lag, or a low level of melatonin production. Melatonin levels peak at night effectively controlling the sleep-wake cycle. You can read more about this here

The solutions discussed above can be effective, but how effective they are depends on the individual; a bit of trial and error will be necessary to discover the best solution.

Some natural treatments include relaxation techniques, such as resting yoga poses, meditation and sleep hypnosis. Some yoga poses that can help can be found here

Some suggested routines are:

-          Don’t work on the computer past a certain hour, around 2hrs before your normal bedtime is a good idea.

-          Don’t read in bed, I know it’s tempting, but it provides a mind association of activity with bed.

-          If you can’t sleep within a reasonable period of time, get back up, do something restful such as read a book (but not in bed) and try again in half an hour.

-          As much as possible create a routine that works for you, following a similar routine every night signals to your mind that you’re going to bed soon.

-          Practice relaxation techniques when you’re not trying to sleep: It’s no good having your first attempt at meditation while you’re frustrated, practice during the day at a time when you don’t need it, and it will be easier to meditate when you need sleep.

-          Exercise during the day (within your ability to do so)

-          Avoid napping during the day – this may be unavoidable, if you must have a nap set an alarm and limit the length of time, an hour nap is unlikely to affect sleeping that night.

-          Try and wake up at a similar time every day, even if you haven’t slept well (This is hard to stick to, but it can improve sleep patterns).

Be prepared to try new things to improve your sleep patterns, what works for a while may all of a sudden stop working. It may be necessary to rotate a few of the more effective methods, as even though one method may stop working, revisiting that method it may work again for a while.