Sleep!

Lately, I cannot seem to get enough sleep! I go to bed probably earlier than I should and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light. But here's the problem- I sleep solidly, soundly for the first 4 hours, during which time it would take a lot to wake me up, and then after that, I can't seem to turn my brain off. I am an incredibly lucid dreamer and from about 2 am until right before my alarm goes off, I float into one dream after another. It's like someone is channel surfing in my brain, constantly flipping from one thing to the next. Some of the dreams are scary, some are strange and some are very ordinary. I know I'm dreaming, but I can't seem to fall back into deep, dreamless sleep. Did you know that your brain doesn't know the difference between dreaming and actually doing? So if you are running a marathon in your dreams, your brain is sending all kinds of chemicals throughout your body as if you were actually running a marathon... hence why you wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed! So yeah, this happens to me every night, although I'm rarely running a marathon in my dreams. Of course, I then am overcome by a wave of extreme tiredness right before my alarm goes off, but have to try and fight it because if I am woken up in the middle of a dream or deep sleep, my whole day is thrown off kilter. 
I'm sure that all the stress and things I'm dealing with in my personal life are affecting my sleep, but you would think it wouldn't be this severe.. I also try really hard not to eat anything an hour before bed so that digestion doesn't affect my sleep. I don't drink anything caffienated. I eat healthy, balanced meals.  I recently bought a new mattress and all new pillows specifically designed for side sleepers (which is the only way I can sleep). I really would like to get to the bottom of this sleep mess and get back to getting a full night of rest! It's getting to the point where I can't make it through my day without having a nap. It's pretty pathetic!