As soon as I start worrying I say to myself “happy thoughts.” Keep mentally saying it until you can’t remember what you were worried about, then immediately go to your fantasy happy place. If the worries start coming back, block them by mentally chanting “happy thoughts, happy thoughts!”
Making my brain say that over and over kinda tires it out.
I usually don’t go to bed until I’m good and tired. When I do, I turn on the TV and set the sleep timer, usually to 30 minutes but I never see it turn off.
I’ve tried counting, forwards and backwards, but both orders seem to demand something from my brain that tends to keep it awake.
One night, while trying to count backward from 100, I kept waking myself up with the thought, “Wait! I missed 52!” or some such. The realization that the counting was keeping me awake led me to the technique I use now, with very good success.
Using slow, deep breaths, I start by thinking the number 99 on my inhalation, then 98 when I exhale. But instead of going to 97 when I take the next breath, I repeat with 99, then 98 on the exhale. This does not require nearly as much thought as counting up or down, and it’s bo-o-oring.
Because this does not occupy my mind, sometimes my mind starts to wander down paths that are more interesting. When I recognize that happening, I simply resume my “count” where I left off: 99, 98, 99, 98.
OffByOne
Same issue for me. I found that reading non fiction (no suspense) and playing solitaire on my PDA in the dark does the trick. The game requires enough concentration that it blocks out other thoughts, but is so devoid of emotional content that it also helps me relax. I also don’t get into my most comfortable position until I can’t concentrate anymore and am ready to sleep. Then it fells so good that it creates a blissful comfort.
Also, I found that no TV 1 hour before bed really helps, and don’t eat too big a dinner to close to bed time.
Stop reading in bed, as already suggested, and give yourself some non-reading, non-TV-watching, non-music-listening, quiet time before you get in bed. During that lull, just let the racing thoughts race. Maybe, if you stop doing anything at all before going to bed, and just sit and think, the racing thoughts will get all worked out so that when you get in bed, the race is over.
Sodoku, using a book light. I can see just fine, but it isn’t too bright and doesn’t disturb Suburban Plankton. Word puzzles don’t work for me, something about the sheer emotionlessness of numbers is very calming to me.
Progressive muscle relaxation like trapezoidal jellyfish mentioned.
If those fail, Ativan.
The problem is you go to bed when you are not really tired. Then you toss and turn. So get up and do stuff. Sometimes you do not need all your sleep.
Sometimes I used to go over a golf round shot by shot. Anybody who has ever had to listen to a golfer tell a golfing story can tell you how boring that is.