OK being a shift worker I am somewhat of an expert, and every 2 years or so we get a refresher course in sleep management. I wont bore you with the ful details but some of the 'winners' are ...
Bedroom should be for sleeping (and erm other activities
) and sleeping only. get rid of the tv, and other distractions. keep the bedroom very dark and your mind will train itself over a period to associate the bedroom with sleep.
Do not force sleep, you can not force it successfully. If you are not asleep after a while, get up and do something quite, like reading, until you are tired and then return to the bedroom.
Exercise is your friend, a tired body helps the mind to sleep.
Matress, you spend 1/3 of your life on it - so make sure it is a very good one. I can not stress this enough. A mattress that is 'allright' or 'not bad' is NOT good enough.
White noise ... ( a sure fire winner with me, but not for everyone) is useful if your mind is spinning at a million thoughts per second. Get your alarm clock radio turned on very low, NO - lower than that - even lower - to a boring talk back nil music station till you have to strain to listen to it. turn of the light snuggle in and listen - remember this is lower than whisper quite - eventually you will slip into sleep and the noise will not bother you and will help block out other house noises.
I have many other tips, ask or pm me for more.
