Insomnia is almost always a behaviorally related naturally occurring issue; it is smart to treat it with natural cures for insomnia, rather than with heavy-duty over the counter or prescription drugs that may prove addictive. But what are the best natural cures for insomnia?

Always start with behavior modification. How do you normally go to sleep? Do you have a fixed time that you wake up each morning, and do you get enough sleep? Do you habitually oversleep on weekends, then struggle to realign your schedule on Monday morning? All these are going to mess up your sleep schedule.

To address your behavior issues regarding sleep, start by determining the schedule you need to be on in order to get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep each night. Do not worry that this would not leave you enough time in the day; if you are getting enough sleep, you become much more productive, and you will find that your daily work gets done faster and better.

Your second step should be removing every distraction from your bedroom, transforming it into a sleeping nook instead of an entertainment room. Now apply that sleeping schedule to yourself, and follow it every single day, even on weekends, even when you can't get to sleep at night.

Your next natural cures for insomnia is nutrition. Start each day with a good breakfast low in fats and processed sugars but high in carbs and protein, egg and lean ham on toast with a glass of milk, for instance, is great. Watch what you eat throughout the day.

Ease up on the sugars and caffeine, and if you eat fast food every day, try salads or non fried foods. This will have two effects, first, it will get rid of substances that mess up your insulin and sugar levels, helping your body equalize its normal rhythms. Second, you are likely to lose weight, and obesity is a significant factor in many health problems, including insomnia.

After you have done what you can with your sleeping habits and eating habits, you can start looking at what you probably think of as natural cures for insomnia, herbs and very mild natural drugs. Remember, any time you take any herb or supplement, tell your doctor. Even seemingly innocuous herbs can interact with certain drugs, causing you to get sick or even die.

For instance, ordinary grapefruit can throw many drugs including beta blockers totally out of whack, causing the patient to get a too high or low dose, as well as leading to liver damage and sometimes death.

Natural cures for insomnia may include simple teas, chamomile, decaffeinated green tea, and catnip (yes, really) can have excellent effect on you when drunk just before bedtime. Valerian has been taken for years to help people get to sleep. Calcium, generally in the form of skim milk, is effective, as it soothes the nerves; warm it up a little, and add chocolate if you want to treat yourself.

All natural cures for insomnia should include behavior modification and attention to your diet because almost all insomnia is self induced. Get yourself back into rhythm, and you would not even need an alarm clock any more as your body takes over your sleep patterns for you.