i have a crossword book right beside my bed. i normally do one or two before i go to sleep. it just helps me wind down.
i’ve also noticed that no matter how tired i am, i can’t sleep for at least an hour or two after i get home from work.
I pray and meditate. I understand that prayer is not for everyone, but meditation and relaxation techniques described above (although, like FairyChatMom, I start with my extremities and work my way inward). Even so, sometimes I find I can turn my mind off. My thoughts range from “how much extra can I pay on my bills, how soon can they all be paid off, if I pay out my mortgage, could I work part-time and still live” to “that pesky world hunger problem, SARS, Russian financial situation”. Sometimes I just can’t sleep. Plus, my cat always wants to sleep on top of me, making moving without disturbing her difficult. Sometimes I just have to make it through a sleepless night or two before I get back in the rhythm of sleep. Good luck!
StG
Am with jackelope and the others on ‘meditation’, though a better word should still be found. Good description, too. I find that even if it doesn’t work right away to send you to sleep, at least you have something to keep you occupied and seems to be good for the body. (At least I assume ‘unstressing’ your body muscles is a good thing).
Usually some solo bed antics does it for me, but I guess it depends on what you think of such activities. 
About 30 to 40 minutes of that (yes, call me Mr. Tantra) and I’m usually pretty tired. Also, very relaxed. Sometimes you can get 1/2 asleep and start with the lucid dreams. They’re especially fun!
Of course I wake up about 3 or 4 times a night, but that’s normal for me and doesn’t really affect me during the day. Now, not sleeping for many hours during the night would mess me up (talking from experience here.)
I can’t go to sleep before 3a without a sixpack of Budweiser. I know everybody says “Well you’re not getting a very good night’s sleep”. I don’t care, I’d rather get 8 hours of a moderate sleep than 3.5 hours of deep sleep and wake to use the Snooze button like a I’m on Family Fued.
“I” before “E” except in Budweiser.
You could consider non-presicrption sleep aids for the occasional time when you REALLY need some sleep. I’ve tried Sleep-eze-D (diphenhydramine HCl) though Gravol has also been recommended to me (dimenhydrinate).
The use of alcohol to help you fall asleep is NOT recommeneded, although I actually have had a doctor tell me that warm milk IS recommended. Avoid caffeine in the evenings, or even afternoons, and if you think sugary foods affect you, avoid those too. Balance your diet more, and try to avoid eating too close to your bedtime.
Excercise is a must, although again not too close to bed time. Don’t read in bed, watch TV, do homework, etc. Make your bed and bedroom an area that your brain associates with sleep and ONLY sleep (and sex).
Learn some meditation or relaxation techniques (the ones described here are good, but there are many many more). Slow breathing exercises, or concentration on something (I use a Big Green Circle) to distract your mind from things are good.
Before going to bed, make sure that you don’t have anything “left over” to finish the next day, or if you do, write it out. List out all the things you need to do the next day, and get it out of your brain for the night.
Go to bed and wake up at the same time EVERY DAY, weekends included. Get a regular sleep/wake schedule, so your brain knows when to “shut down” at night.
Identify all your stressors, and adapt/change them to make them less stressful. Seek counselling if thats what it takes.
Basically, all of those things that people are going to “parrot” - do them. Its what doctors have recommened for years, and it is things that work, unless there is an additional physiological component (such as depression) contributing to your lack of sleep. Doctors SHOULD NOT be prescribing ANY sleep aids until you have tried all these other things and been unsuccessful. Sleeping pills, although they can be useful occasionally, do not cure Insomnia, but merely mask it enough to allow you get some sleep.
As an insomniac myself, I know how hard it is to totally adapt your lifestyle to some of these suggestions. I’m also a student, so stress levels rise and fall pretty drastically with midterms/assignments/finals, etc, and varying class schedules sometimes make eating/sleep/wake schedules difficult to regulate. But I do try, and I have learned to identify many of my “triggers” for my insomnia.
A doctor likely will tell you everything I’ve said (and more that I’ve probablymissed), but it is also a good idea to get a physical examination done to rule out physical causes, and to perhaps conduct a sleep study to rule out things such as sleep apnea.
Good luck!
Dre creep to the mike like a phantom
Let some fresh air into your bedroom before you go to bed. Open the window for ten minutes (if you don’t usually have it open). This will also cool the room a little, it is better to have the room a little on the cool side. Don’t have too warm bedclothes either.
Contradictary as it may sound, keep your feet warm! Wear a pair of socks to bed in your slightly cold room. If you are a guy in your late teens/early twenties this is an especially good tip.
Follow all the techinques listed here, find one you like, one that calms and bores you, and stick with it.
If you aren’t asleep within a half hour, get up again for a while. Go have a drink, read a page in the newspaper, or tidy the sitting room a little (something slightly unpleasant, get a little aversion therapy going on there, and then go back again).
It is also a tip to try going to bed (and sleep) within a half an hour of having yawned.
These tips (specifically the warm feet one) just cut my buddies fall-asleep period down to a half hour from 3 hours.
If most of what everyone has said doesn’t help, don’t feel hopeless. Those things tend to have the opposite effect for me - I can’t fall asleep if the room is cool, if I start reading I’ll stay up all night, and caffeine is my lifeblood. I usually don’t have a problem falling asleep, though, so I can’t exactly relate. But when I do…
I agree with the meditation idea. I use this audiotape that I got for seven bucks, including shipping. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to the whole thing all the way through because I always, always fall asleep - even in the middle of the day, or if I just woke up a few hours ago. I know the point isn’t going to sleep, but all the visualizations and deep breathing just makes me nod off.
Whatever you decide, though, do it every night. Have a set routine that you rarely break; this way your body prepares for sleep. Mine is something like…
10:00 watch the Simpsons
10:30 get my stuff together for the next day and set alarm clock
11:00 take a shower, then get in the bed and study some
12:00 call boyfriend to say goodnight
12:30 watch the Late Late Show until I fall asleep, or listen to that tape if I’m feeling wound up
Works wonders - just setting my alarm clock puts me in a “it’s almost bedtime” mood, even though it’s a couple hours before I do go to bed. Nothing is particularly relaxing or sleep-inducing - it’s just the routine itself.
Melatonin works well for me.
To distract your mind, count backward slowly from 1000.
Also, lie on your back in bed, legs stretched out, arms at your sides. Relax your muscles and don’t move. Don’t shift, squirm or wiggle.
Good luck!
I do the ‘meditate’ thing too, starting from the nape of my neck, going over my face and then down my shoulders, arms, torso, legs, feet. Only at every step I go back and re-relax my face, shoulders, etc.
Maybe you’re like me. I can’t sleep by thinking about stuff. If I tried to count sheep, or name stuff or whatevet when trying to sleep, I would never get to sleep. I actually have to FORCE myself to not think about anything (very difficult). It takes me an hour at least to fall asleep most nights. I sleep like crap also, with every little noise waking me up.
I relax myself bit, by bit, too. I lie on my back with my hands facing up at my sides, then start counting my breathing. If I’m still awake or don’t feel as though I’m sliding into sleep, I start mentally going over my entire body, tensing individual muscles, then letting them relax. Or I lay there, breathing deeply, imagining warmth spreading all through my body with each breath. It sounds hokey, but by the time I’ve finished taking about 30 deep breaths, it’s easy to get myself to sleep if I’m not already there. It’s best not to focus on going to sleep, though. If you lay there and try to command yourself to sleep, it probably won’t work - controlling my breathing seems to take my mind off of it enough that I can sleep.
I put myself to sleep the same way I did in high school.
I lay down get comfy and turn on the History Channel.
be sure to put the TV on sleep mode as well or you might wake up with “bombs bursting in Mid-air…”
if you wake up at 4, do it again. Informercials are very soothing too.
I’d like to echo the posters who have mentioned masturbation. There’s some actual science to back this up. An orgasm (solo or assisted) stimulates the release of chemicals called endorphins, which are like a natural opiate.
About a TV or stereo in timer mode, my problem is that if I’m still awake when it turns off it’s really depressing. Make sure you set it long enough.
Are you an SPFer by any chance? 
Masturbation is a wonder-working soporific, although that may just work for men. Usually when I’m trying to go to sleep, I count Roman emperors. Seriously. I’ll start with Augustus and I usually conk out by the time I get to Septimius Severus.
I haven’t had many problems falling asleep, and usually can in almost any situation (light, dark, loud, quiet, sitting up, laying down) so take this with a mound of salt.
What works best for me is to be in bed with adequate blankets; the clock radio playing fairly quietly, but still loud enough that I don’t have to concentrate on listening to understand what’s on; have a light on, and read until falling asleep.
There are two situations which always result in a good nights sleep. The first is if I’ve done something physically demanding that day (paintball, football, swimming around for hours, moving dirt or rocks or whatever) and the second is if I stay up for a really long time. If I stay up for a day or more, for about the next week I’ll be passing out at any viable opportunity. A third thing which induces naps in not only me, but several of my friends as well is shooting. Every time I come back from the range, the couch starts looking mighty tempting.
One thing you didn’t mention, and I don’t recall seeing in any of the replies, is whether you are sleeping by yourself or sharing the bed. While I don’t have much experience sleeping with others, I’ve found that almost any movement of hers will wake me up at least somewhat. I’m assuming that this is one of those things you get used to over time, but you may want to consider sleeping by yourself until you start sleeping better.
This is going to sound stupid in the first degree, but it works for me. It might work for you. Get comfy in bed, lights out, and then imagine yourself someplace you are the happiest and safest. Perhaps cuddled up to someone you adore. It doesn’t have to be a place you’ve actually been – it can be a place you saw on TV or read about in a book, and liked the sound of it.
For those of us who have trouble sleeping because we can’t shut off our brains, this kind of internal storytelling can be helpful.