magnesium orotate, glycinate or citrate plus GABA never fail to get me in a nice relaxed and sleepy state and i never wake up during the night. give it a try.

(btw, it's completely normal that your brain "rehearses" challenging stuff during the night - that's how your brain develops and improves)

I think all things electronic or mind stimulating like math, are not helpful before bed. The author of "Lights Out, Sleep, Sugar and Survival," by T.S. Wiley does a pretty good job in explaining why. I found that book fascinating.

I have added F.lux to my computer. F.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day which changes the. http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/ (Might help with late night internet use)

I have had sleep problems for a long time so I am always researching this, but sounds like this is not a chronic problem.

Last night I watched on TV (against my better judgement) a show called "Container Wars," and all my dreams were relating to thrift store junk. errrr! Didn't help my sleep and I woke up a lot.

It doesn't hurt to drink the chamomile tea before bed just in case, I do!

You may want to try a melatonin supplement to help you fall asleep. I travel across the country and have to use it to fall asleep when the time zone changes.

i too dream about whatever I've been doing. I've had some interesting dreams about The Office.

Memories for the day's events, sometimes called day-residue, like playing video games are probably stored in the brain differently than more consciously learned material. Robert Stickgold, a sleep researcher at Harvard, once had anterograde amnesics (they can't form new explicit memories) play Tetris for 4 hours a day. Even though they never explicitly recalled having played Tetris, when they were asked about their dreams (especially the hypnagogic imagery during pre-sleep) they recalled a lot of Tetris-like imagery.

What you are describing is so normal and common, I don't think it's a problem at all. Try to stop doing things that get you wound up for a few hours before bed. Regarding nights before big-days, there's nothing really to do. As you get older, there will be fewer big-days as some of the newness of life wears off a bit.

Try meditation before you go to bed. Like, really learn how to meditate for relaxation. Focus just on your breath - inhaling and exhaling. Try counting each breath. The goal with meditation is to eventually just focus on "nothing", letting your conscious mind's thoughts of math and facebook just pass without dwelling on them.

Might sound a tad too Buddhist at first, but it really helps. I try to meditate every night before I sleep, especially if I've had a day filled with craziness.

Good luck!

I've had this happen. When I had some boring stressful task at work, I've sometimes come home and dreamt that I was still doing it. Ick! Or sometimes in the morning, I'd dream I got up, took a shower, got ready for work, etc. Only to later wake up and realize I had to do it all over gain for real! GAH!

Yes, you need to relax before bed.

The new place/anticipation thing is normal, I think. If I have to get up specially early for something, I always sleep badly (in fits and starts!) the night before.

Sleep specialists all recommend not doing things that are stimulating for the last couple of hours before bed. I usually have dinner, do some crosswords or puzzles (I find it relaxing), and go to bed with my last decaff and cream with 1/4 teaspoon honey in it. And my daily treat of 1 square of 70% dark chocolate is eaten then too. I read (no horror or thrillers - defeats the purpose) until I feel sleepy and usually have no trouble dropping off.

Ivan,

Have you removed any and all gluten or gluten-like substances from your diet? It is likely doing so will help specifically with your sleep issues. They certainly did for me, which was very similar.

Well, in a sense your brain is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. Part of the reason we sleep is so the brain can work on things for us that we devoted a lot of attention to during the day. Tetris is the perfect example...if you play Tetris a lot (because we all get sucked in and spend hours doing it) then your brain assumes it's important and your dreams at night are a time when your brain practices for you. That's why you "sleep on it" and are best at certain tasks or more certain about an idea after sleeping. There have been studies done on rats that proved that they were dreaming about going through a maze that they had been placed in during the day. Your brain does the same. But your brain is doing it more than needed and about things that don't really matter. You have to control for that by avoiding the TV/computer, etc. before bed. Or just get really good at Facebook math games. :)

This sounds very similar to hypnagogia, except that it's as you're falling alseep not during sleep. Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia#Tetris_effect

Ditch the internet before bed! The type of light emitted from the screen disrupts the body's circadian rhythm. It pretty much destroys normal melatonin production and thus, normal sleep patterns. Cut out the TV, and especially the computer an hour before bed and things will vasty improve.

A melatonin supplement can also help immensely. You can start with 1mg. Just take it and read a good book, or just lay back and relax.