My cat needs some help, I need my sleep

Hi
I was wondering if someone could help me. My cat for the last 3 weeks decides to race around in the middle of the night and meaw like crazy. I don't know what to do. I check to see if he has food which he does. But I don't have energy in the middle of the night to play. I don't understand why he has to race around and meaw. If someone could please give me suggestions of what to do when this goes on it would be very appreciated.
Thanx

This is what I do for Max before we go to bed. I play the dickens out of him an hour before we go to sleep and I feed him his treat right before I start getting ready. He likes to be petted when we get in bed so I pet him until I fall asleep. He used to get up in the middle of the night and want petting, but I would just gently push him down. He now sleeps through the night (as far as I know). I just know he doesn't wake me up anymore!

Nora has the right idea. Play with him real hard for a minimum of 10 minutes before you go to bed. Play very active games such as tossing mice or balls for him to chase or drag a string behind you as you run through the house with the cat trying to catch the string. End the play session with a little canned food, warmed up just a tad (zap in the microwave for about 5 to 10 seconds). And---very important---never ever get up to play with him in the middle of the night. No matter how loud he is, just ignore him. If you give in and play with him or even acknowledge him, he will learn that he just has to be noisy to get what he wants!

Good luck and sweet dreams!

a nice bowl of warmed oatmeal ]helps them to sleep the night away like a baby- but not with milk in it...