WSVN -- You just won the lottery...

Your secret crush professes undying love for you. That big promotion at work came through. Dream on - if only you could, right? - nearly one out three Americans can't even fall asleep - turning bedtime into a nightmare.

Insomnia Patient Carlos Guzman: "Imagine you know, going for two weeks without sleeping, and I went for months, years at a time."

Insonmia Patient Teny Nameth: "If I had a wish, I would wish to be able to just climb into bed, and go to sleep and wake up in the morning refreshed."

Teny Nameth and Carlos Guzman have been tossing and turning forever.

Teny Nameth: "I try to turn off the events of the day or things that have been on my mind and nothing happens."

Carlos Guzman: "I thought it was normal for years until my friends started noticing on my face the bags under my eyes."

While Americans are popping sleeping pills in record numbers - drugs can be addictive.

Over the counter sleep aids may leave you groggy. Now a surprising new study reveals - they're not even the best treatment for insomnia.

Behavioral therapy is! Involving everything from hypnosis to simply changing bedtime habits.

Certified Hipnotist Therapist Basil Papanastassiou: "We can teach someone in one or two sessions a trigger they can use to fall asleep. It allows them to fall asleep within one to five minutes."

Most people don't know it - but they sabotage their own sleep.

Insomnia sufferer Jeannie Bachner: "I had to have a TV on to fall asleep - I mean that was critical."

As we age biological changes gradually cause sleep to be lighter and less restful. But it's never too late to get back on track.

Relaxation is key.

Board Certified Sleep Specialist Dr. Natalio Chediak: "That is don't participate in video games, working on your computer, trying to solve the world's problems just before you go to bed, allow a period of winding down or turning off."

"I enjoy working cross word puzzles very much and I didn't associate this with working my brain so I couldn't go to sleep."

Try a hot bath instead. Daily exercise can help too - but not right before bedtime. Cut caffeine in the afternoon and nix the nap. Other sleep secrets...

Dr. Chediak: "If you're so awake and your mind is still racing, stimulus control request that you get out of bed, that you go to a place that's calm, quiet."

Make the bedroom a haven only for sleep - keep it dark.

Now Jeannie does her cross words during the day and only watches TV in the family room.

Jeannie: "It's really easy to fall asleep I never thought I'd be able to say that - I never thought I'd be able to sleep without a television."

Deep breathing and meditation may work too - but it doesn't happen overnight.

Dr. Chediak: "If you find a motivated patient it works great."

Hypnosis works for Carlos.

Carlos Guzman: "Sure enough I laid my head down to go rest, which is what I usually do, and I didn't wake up until the next morning."

Making a good night's sleep a dream come true.

Carlos Guzman: "That first night that you actually sleep those full six, eight hours, it's an amazing feeling."

If you're battling constant insomnia - get a complete physical to make sure there is no other medical problem causing it.

Contact: mmitzel@wsvn.com

Boca Raton Sleep Disorders Center
Dr. Natalio Chediak, Medical Director, Board Certified Sleep Medicine Specialist
561-750-9881
660 Glades Road, Suite 220 
Boca Raton, FL 33431