As the holiday season gets into full swing, your stress level is no doubt climbing as well. Whether the stress is from financial concerns, endless travel, a houseful of visitors, or the demands of making the most of your holidays, it can be a lot to handle. And your sleep may suffer.

It is important that you try to maintain your sleep schedule during these busy times. Keeping a regular bedtime as well as waking up at the same time every day will help you to sleep better. When you are better rested, you are also better able to cope with stress.

So don't become overwhelmed by the demands of the season. Instead, be sure to settle in consistently each and every night for your long winter's nap.

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Insomnia relates to difficulties falling or staying asleep. There are many potential treatment options, including the use of medications. Two of the more common prescription medications for insomnia are Ambien and Trazodone.

Learn what Ambien and Trazodone are, including their use in the treatment of insomnia. Find out the indications for use, how they work, who should not use them, what the potential side effects are, and what safety monitoring should occur.

You can use this information to determine if Ambien or Trazodone may be a good treatment option for you.

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In a recent study of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy, sleep disorders such as insomnia are surprisingly common and may become chronic conditions.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the research examined 823 cancer patients and found nearly three in four suffering from a sleep disorder, nearly three times the rate of the general population. Younger patients and those with lung or breast cancers were especially at risk.

The concern is that the sleep problems may lead to fatigue and depression and may adversely affect their long-term cancer survival. Fortunately, insomnia and other sleep problems are very treatable conditions.

It is a quintessentially American tradition: gathering with family and friends to feast -- to the point of excess -- and reflect on all for which we can be thankful. And just as much a part of the day as turkey, parades, and football, is the post-meal nap. What is it about the Thanksgiving feast that makes us so sleepy?

The most often-cited culprit is an amino acid, or building block of protein, called tryptophan. This is found in turkey, but it is found in higher concentrations in other foods, including: egg white, cod, soybeans, parmesan and cheddar cheese, pork chops, and (for the adventurous) caribou. One hardly hears of anyone complaining of excessive sleepiness after eating these foods. So what is to blame?

It may be the other things we pile onto our plates and into our goblets. Alcohol certainly can make us sleepy, but it's not the only culprit. It has been demonstrated that meals rich in carbohydrates -- such as potatoes, yams, breads, and countless other Thanksgiving foods -- trigger insulin release. This promotes the uptake by muscle of amino acids other than tryptophan. Lonely and unused trytophan builds up in the blood and is shuttled across the blood-brain barrier where it is converted into a neurotransmitter, or brain chemical, called serotonin. The serotonin is further metabolized into melatonin, which is a hormone with sleep-promoting qualities.

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