FWIW,
when my hair gets too long, it bothers me too, making me feel hot and depressed. It doesnt interfere with my sleep though (and I did have insomnia in college, as I am a light sleeper and lived in a dorm for 2 years, the caffiene didnt help either.)
Yup, you have a problem that needs looking after. It’s probably bad now because you are a student in the middle of stressful times, but that won’t change when you graduate and find a job. Now you’re stressed about student things; next you’ll be stressed about finding a job, then you’ll be stressed about work things, then… See the pattern? You’ll never be stress-free in life; you need to reduce your stress as much as you can, but you also need to find ways to deal with the stress in your life and still get the sleep you need.
I have only occasional bouts of stress-induced insomnia (of the kind essvee described - fall asleep, wake up four hours too early, lie in bed and stew until alarm goes off), and what works for me is getting up and writing down all the things running laps in my brain. Write down all the things bugging you, write down as many solutions as you can, write down a date to work on it again if you can’t solve it right away, and just get those things under control. Make a list of things to do the next day, make a calendar of things going on, do whatever it takes to feel like you’re in control of your life again. For me, getting it out of my head and onto a sheet of paper means I can stop worrying about it. I hope this works for you if you try it.
Some tricks that work for me; I try to “find the sleep” when I’m just lying there. You know that lovely, sleepy feeling you get just before you fall asleep? Well, I consciously try to find that feeling in my body - sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s usually right behind my eyes, I find.
Try not to eat so late - your body is getting mixed messages. “Do you want me to work on this food, or do you want me to shut down for eight hours and rebuild? What’s is gonna be?” Don’t go to bed really hungry, either. Try to have a decent meal at suppertime, or do like we did as kids and have a night lunch before bed - just a light snack.
No caffeine during the day at all. The warm glass of milk before bed thing isn’t a complete old wives’ tale - milk apparently has sleepy enzymes in it. I drink club soda mixed with unsweetened fruit juice during the day - you get a nice drink without caffeine or much sugar that way.
Cat out of the bedroom. I can’t believe how many people on the Dope let their cats in their rooms at night. Ours would be waking us up 10 times a night if they were allowed in. “We want to sleep with you. No we don’t. We want to play now. We want to eat now. Was that a foot moving? KILL!!!”