Cut down on caffeine, do more mental tasks during the day to make your brain tired, have a set time to go to sleep and to get up

Also, being in pitch black helps. Sometimes listening to slow music calms your body down.

Whats your lifestyle like?

Matt

Lynw, BBC, I know how both of you feel.
I spent 20 years working a shift pattern that included nights, sometimes 7 in a row, and although I'm now only on-call at nights, I have severe difficulty getting regular sleep.
I have tried every herbal remedy under the sun, been to the states and gathered all their remedies too, (melatonin - pah, I can eat a bottle), but nothing yet, apart from 'proper' doctor drugs has hit the mark.
Things got pretty bad last year when I was staying awake up to 24 hours at a time, sleeping only about 12, and feeling like my head was full of cotton wool all the time. With no kids and an irregular and badly designed shift pattern, there was nothing to pull me into any kind of sync.
Although nothing has changed regarding my ability to sleep well, some lifestyle changes have improved things.
I now avoid tea, coffee, alchohol after 6pm. I also try and go to bed around midnight or before, even if it means I'll lie there reading or occasionally watching TV. I also try and get up at the same time each morning, even if it means feeling tired all day as a result. I take handfulls of different tablets, although I can't swear by any of them as yet. I also used to like to get everything 'done' before I went to bed, i.e. paperwork, burning CD's, ironing - whatever! I've sucessfully got out of that mentality, in fact I leave things deliberately overnight so I have something that needs doing in the morning.
If you find the magic cure, put me on the list, I'll be your best friend for life :)

nope not pescription
they are

Lloyds pharmacy
Extra Strength
Sleep Aid

non of that herbal crap, 50mg of Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride

Any film with Hugh Grant in it normaly does the job.

When I have to do a long hall flight I've found 5 nightols with a G & T knocks me out or at least lets me get to that very relaxed state

about to try that with one bottle of wine [so far not working on its own] and a nytol. Then another and probably another around 2am. :?

It's a pain when you can't sleep you end up getting wound up because you can't sleep then it's even harder to.

I'm off to Lloyds pharmacy in the morning.

I usually wake up at 1.20am on the dot, thinking about work. Like, what I haven't done, who'll be complaining, have I made a mistake, etc. And of course at 1.20am there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. But I lie awake sometimes then till 3am or later.

Having a shower before I go to bed helps, going to bed overtired is not a good idea. And a feed helps too.

To drift off I often re-run a recent ride in my mind's eye. It usually works.

Wouldnt say I get wound up so much now, but I get too tired to sleep if that makes any sense.

I decided once to see how long the insomnia would go for, and lasted 72 hours before my body just rebelled and went to sleep. Which is the problem - I could quite easily go 24 hours and be knackered but still not be able to sleep. :? :(

Like Ed I will be seeking out my local Lloyds pharmacy tomorrow morning. :D

THe thing that uesed to really bug me when I suffered with it, was that after I'd been in bed staring at the ceiling for 4 hours, I would get really annoyed because I couldn't sleep, and that would make it ten times once.

I also found that I would be thinking about not sleeping just before I went to bed, so you go to bed thinking "I'm not going to be able to sleep" so you don't.

I've never tried to see how long I go without sleeping (not insomnia related anyway) I would always drop off normally about an hour before I had to get up.

Bottle of Vodka worked for me for a number of years.

But I'm responsible now I've finished Uni. Didn't have a problem until I moved and started my new job.

But I've got the solution for my sleeping problem, I'm going to get a gun and silence the next f**king builder that uses a digger outside my house at 7 in the morning. (Ah the joys of living on a new development).