The Sleep Cure.

Byline: Ginny Graves PHOTOGRAPHED BY GREG WILLIAMS

Bleary eyes. Dull skin. Weight gain. Sleep deprivation isn't pretty--and we didn't even mention the foggy thinking and bad moods. We tested the new approaches to sleeping beautifully.

The brown bat sleeps for nearly 20 hours each day. Humans function best on a comparatively thrifty seven to nine, but more and more people are having trouble getting even that. The National Sleep Foundation recently found that just 25 percent of Americans get at least eight hours of rest on weekdays and that 60 percent of women say they often sleep poorly. "Insomnia is a bona fide health problem," says Rubin Naiman, clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine and sleep director at the Miraval Resort in Tucson. "Skimping on sleep has a price, including weight gain, diminished immune responses, lack of concentration, irritability, and depression."

Why should something that seems to come naturally to other creatures prove so elusive for us? "Our society doesn't value sleep," says Phyllis Zee, a professor of neurology at and director of Northwestern University's Sleep Disorders Center. "We see it as a sign of laziness or a waste of time"--so much so that sleeplessness has become something to brag about. Plus, "the culture we've created is geared to keeping us awake," Zee says. Our minds are constantly aroused by stress, caffeine, and even email. "Scans of metabolic activity in the brain show that people who suffer from insomnia have more activity than people without sleep problems when they're trying to get to sleep," Zee says. "When people say, 'I can't turn my brain off at night,' they're actually right."

It probably doesn't help that we're all preoccupied with our sleep problems and inundated with pills, gadgets, and treatments that claim to cure them. We asked experts to tell us which solutions they recommend, and then we put them to the test with bleary-eyed women. After all, sleep is the birthright of most animals; but to toss and turn is uniquely human.

FREE YOUR MIND

THE PROBLEM: Anxiety. You're alone with your thoughts for the first time all day, and you become so fretful that you feel like a character in a Woody Allen movie. "Worrying prompts your body to produce the adrenaline-like chemical epinephrine, which keeps you awake," says Joyce Walsleben, associate professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, who has studied sleep extensively. It also constricts your blood vessels, making your extremities cold--and it's easier to fall asleep when they're warm.