I do this too. At night I watch tv on my left side, then flip to my right to fall asleep. I never sleep on my back though…so I lie on my back and eventually sort of pass out, only to wake up and flip to my right to fall asleep, and I’m gone.
Yes. I NEVER look at the time if I wake up. Knowing how little time you have left makes it harder to fall asleep. Same with naps.
I used to be religious about this, too - it just annoyed me on many levels to know what time it was, as well as the issue of not being able to drop back off if I knew it was only for 15 minutes, or an hour, or whatever.
I’ve gotten a lot more relaxed about it and found it doesn’t make much difference any more - but then, I am at an age where I have a whole list of such little things that make consistent sleep habits hard.
This happens to me frequently. I have had various forms of insomnia for about 25 years (fall asleep quickly then wake up; can’t fall asleep at all but sleep soundly when I do…). Here’s my proven solution, and I don’t mean to be flippant.
I go downstairs, pour a glass of wine, and look at some porn. I finish the wine, rub one out, and go back to bed. On nights that I’m just not into the porn, I have the wine while I read a bit. But the truth is, the wine is relaxing and the porn/wank combo is sort of a reset switch for my brain. I’m asleep within minutes afterward.
My wife usually says the next morning, “I heard you come up in the middle of the night- did you “relax” first?”
Mine is World of Warcraft. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I’ll walk through the house to make sure everything is okay, then get on the computer and kill orcs until I get sleepy again.
- Pee.
- Don’t look at the clock.
- Figure out what I’m going to wear to work the next day.
- Get up and clean something.
I rarely make it to four, the mere thought of scrubbing the bathroom in the wee hours is enough to make me pass out.
I roll over. 
No, really, I am very lucky. I have excellent sleeping patterns. But when I really can’t sleep, often I find if I furiously twitch one of my legs, it kind of tires me out again and I fall asleep.
I have had some luck in the past with meditating, also - fixate on a black spot on a black wall, and really try to focus on it. Counting sheep never helps. I don’t get why that’s supposed to help anyway. I always get distracted by the mechanics of the sheep - some don’t make it over the fence, they get stuck, or they pile up, or they start fighting.
THIS keeps me up for hours, though. If I start thinking of a book or something i love, that’s it. I can sit there and fantasize about what would have/could have/should have happened.
Don’t know if it would work for others, but I like to write scripts/stories in my head…start to think of some characters and put them in a situation and create a background story and plot…eventually I just nod off again. I think the idea of just giving the mind “something to do” helps relax me.
Of course, there are those horrible nights when the brain just goes bonkers and I get thoughts like, “Why is grass green?” “Did I turn off the lights in the kitchen?” “Why do we only have five toes?” “I wonder who killed Jimmy Hoffa?” and other such nonsense that drives me crazy. That is harder to “turn off” than simply trying to keep the brain busy.
Daydreaming, earplugs, and focusing on my tinnitus like it’s a white noise machine. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
I mentally picture a black hole, never ending darkness that starts to spread. Before it covers everything, I’m asleep.
Kind of similar to yours, I suppose… sometimes I’ll just pick a certain person… usually someone I know but on rare occasions a celeb… and start to imagine hearing things in their voice. Helps if it’s not someone that will rile you up, but just someone whose voice you hear enough to have it “recorded” in your head. Then I imagine them starting to say a few things, a train of thought… then it takes care of itself by getting increasingly random, and I can usually drift off with that.
I write and/or rewrite scenes from a space opera that only exists in my head in order to lull myself to sleep. I’ve been doing this since 2005 or so. As it stands, it’s about equal parts Dune, The Foundation, and Deus Ex Human Revolution. If I ever wrote the thing, it would be at least seven volumes long and nobody anywhere would ever read it.
When/if I wake up mid-sleep, I usually chug as much water as I can stand to (my mouth tends to hang open while I’m sleeping and I end up with an epic case of drymouth) and repeat the above.
Weird, I’m exactly the opposite of all of you non clock checkers.
If I can calculate how much more time I have available to sleep and it’s more than 20 mins I can drop off fairly easily. If I’m stressed about the next day for whatever reason I also check my alarm to verify that it’s set. After that I’m out again.
I lay there and think about the last dream I just had before I woke up. That usually works. If it was a bad dream, I mentally change it.
iPod with headphones, playing a podcast or a bit of an audiobook.
Those middle-of-the-night wakeups where you can’t get back to sleep are real killers :(. The iPod almost always helps. I’ll start up a podcast, plug in one earbud, and usually not remember the second sentence.
I sleep with earplugs and blackout curtains, for starters. After my early-morning wakeup I turn onto my stomach and lie with my cheek on the mattress. That puts me out like a light switch. Something about having my head low makes it easier to drop off.
I do this too. If I can’t remember the last dream I try to go with the last one I can remember. I have awesome dreams most nights:)
Picture a chalkboard. On it is all written the stuff that’s buzzing through your head. Mentally get a big eraser and erase it all. Once the chalkboard is empty, write the number 100 on it.
Slowly inhale, and erase the number an the chalkboard. Then slowly exhale, write the next number down. Repeat. 99…breathe. 98… breathe.
I’m usually asleep by 75. If I make it to 0, I’m officially awake and get up.
I’m one of the rarely sighted non-athiests on these boards (Catholic).
I recite the Hail Mary over and over. It seems to work pretty well. 
I think it works like counting sheep because I can say it automatically, it’s repetitive and allows your brain to shut out other distractions.
Count me in as another one who does this. My go-to’s are always trying to conceive a Mass Effect (video game for those who don’t know) movie, or I try to figure out a rational way to have teleportation pods.
If I can concentrate on something for long enough that quiets the bounciness of my head I can usually sleep.
Also count me in to rubbing one out. Orgasms just seem to work for guys…but I try that only as a last resort