Re:

I have found chamomile flowers just steeped in hot water to make me very drowsy within the hour.

I also had 6 weeks of insomnia - not the wired kind or pounding heartbeat - just wasn't tired - mainly the mind wasn't. My brain and body was.
Those 6 weeks were stressful for me - i had a major problem i needed to resolve and couldn't find a solution. It was to make a decision that would be life-altering and put more stress in my life. I was in flux! The result of it was such intense insomnia - never before had i experienced insomnia - i've always had a problem of sleeping too much, always feeling sleepy and finding it easy to sleep at any time in the day/night.

Once i had made the decision of the issue perplexing me, THAT NIGHT i slept fine. Despite me making the decision that would ultimately bring more stress into my life - i still slept fine. If i had made the other choice i had available to me it meant that i would have 'potential stress' looming over me for 3 yrs, ready to pounce at any moment.

Despite having health issues i never felt they stressed me out - they concern me but have never sunk to a deep level to affect sleep.
Maybe other posters on here are finding their health issues as stressful as i found this 'decision' i had to make, therefore giving them long-term insomnia?

For me, obviously to find the solution to my issue was what stopped the insomnia immediately.
If your health is stressing you to a deep level then i guess only a cure would improve sleep...however, that 'cure' is an unknown for many of us, so how we view our health status needs a perspective that enables the mind to just put it to 'one side' to enable the mind to switch off and the brain to rest.
It's so much easier said than done i know, yet what i tried when insomnia gripped me was listening to extremely relaxing meditation type music.
It worked for me because it averted my attention to listening rather than the mind thinking.
I really feel for you guys with longterm insomnia - having now experienced it, not being able to sleep until 8am...then waking up at 10 feeling like crap and trying to get up and get a 'days work' done, despite living in peaceful surroundings, having a good diet etc...the exhaustion mounts up if sleep is compromised.
Now that i've improved my sleep hours i'm feeling much better - so focusing on sleep issues is more important than diet in my opinion.
Chamomile, 5-HTP 50mg, and as a last resort 500mg GABA helped me. I never took these things together by the way! Always rotated them singularly each night. Tweet