A warm bath before bed can help you get to sleep, research shows. (Credit: MyImages – Micha/Shutterstock)

About 30 percent of Americans have trouble sleeping. Shahab Haghayegh, a University of Texas biomedical engineer, was one of them. Sleep eluded him. “I always had a hard time fall[ing] asleep,” he told Discover via email. 

Over the counter medications like the hormone melatonin and Unisom, a sedating anti-histamine, can help people get to sleep. But the medicines aren’t long-term solu