Insomnia

Insomnia? Is it caused by stress? What can I do to help my insomnia?
Stress can be the cause of insomnia, but that doesn't mean that it is the cause of your insomnia. Stress causes hyperarousal (see below), which can affect your ability to fall asleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that you slowly increase the amount of time you spend asleep each night via 15-minute increments. So for the first night you aim to get the same amount of sleep (n minutes) that you normally do. The second night, you go to bed/set your alarm so that you get 15 more minutes of sleep (n + 15 minutes). Repeat until you reach the amount of sleep you're aiming for. For example, if I get 3.5 hours of sleep, or 210 minutes (like I did Sunday night), and I'd like to get 8 hours of sleep (480 minutes)... Using the equation below it will take me...
t = n+(15*d), or d = (t-n)/15 where:
     t = desired amount of sleep
     n = amount of sleep I currently get
     d = days required
... 18 days to work my way up to the amount of sleep that I want.
This process may be a bit longer than you want to wait, but if insomnia is a serious issue for you then 15 minutes more per night may be hard for you. As I'm sure you all remember from Aesop's Fables, slow and steady wins the race.

hyperarousal /hy·per·arou·sal/ (-ah-rou´z'l) a state of increased psychological and physiological tension marked by such effects as reduced pain tolerance, anxiety, exaggeration of startle responses, insomnia, fatigue, and accentuation of personality traits. It is produced by hormones released during the fight-or-flight reaction.

References:
(1)  Kavey, Neil B. "Stress and Insomnia." National Sleep Foundation. 2001. <http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/ask-the-expert/stress-and-insomnia>