A shower before bed relaxes me. A lifelong insomniac, the most successful sleep aid I have ever found is a ritual. Take the dog out to pee, check locks and windows, lay out tomorrow's clothing, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, turn out all the lights, go to bed. Same order every night. It gives my brain advance notice that we are now in shutdown mode. The pets also recognize the ritual, both the dog and cat bunk down while I am laying out tomorrow's clothes, and they are dozing waiting for me when I come to bed.

@moondrake gives good advice. Here's some rules to follow:

No caffeine after lunch time. NO EXCEPTIONS.

No television in the room (unless you're me; I can't sleep without it).
Turn off the lights in your room, and look around for things that glow. Alarm clock? If you can see it at night, it's going to aggravate your sleeping problems. Computer screen? Shut it down, turn it off, or (preferably) move it OUT of the room. Your bedroom should be for sleeping.

No late meals (at least nothing larger than a 100 calorie or less snack).

No alcohol (although no more than half a beer, or four ounces of wine, if you absolutely must). Alcohol has a half life of approximately four hours; this means that if you drink yourself to sleep, you'll wake up before you're through sleeping (because it wears off).

Try putting your friends on notice that phone calls after 9PM are unkind. Enforce it, by asking friends to call you the next day, if they violate it. Then HANG UP.

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wnyx585am said SEX, that is a great idea, but if you add a couple shots of scotch to the front end of that it makes for a very deep sleep.

How to promote sleep? Hire Don King.

The advice given to date is good in developing good sleep hygiene. Non randomized studies show that good sleep practices are as good as (and probably better than) a pharmacologic sleep aid in promoting sleep.

The whole point is to get into a habit and avoid things that disturb sleep:
1) As above: the bed is for sleeping and (if you are lucky , since you are a student) sex. It is NOT for reading, studying, watching TV, eating, or anything else. By elminating all other activities tells your body that laying down in bed = sleep time.
2) Get rid of distractions, including lights (above) and sounds. Foam insertable ear plugs work well if your living space is loud.
3) Getting rid of alcohol is important. Alcohol supresses REM sleep, so you sleep but still feel tired when you wake up.
4) Avoid "Weekend Jet Lag". I just saw this term last week. It describes what happens when you stay up later on weekends and sleep later, too (continued)...

@shrdlu @moondrake @wilfbrim: A ritual sounds like a good idea. It might take a while to build, but I've dealt with insomnia all my life so even if it doesnt help me in the next week or two, if it helps in the future it's still a win in my book. I have been using another sleep aid that's worked the past couple days, but it hits me so heavily that I cant get out of bed and that's become a problem.

My room is pretty much just for sleep or relaxation, so I suppose I'm good there. I have had a beer or two later in night and I definitely snack, so I can cut those out without much difficulty.

This may seem silly, but how would I go about setting a ritual? I cant really think of that many things I do, let alone things that would calm me down. Unless I'm going for a psychological association; train my brain to think "This just happened? That means it's time to sleep."

@shrdlu: Party pooper! I think you went way too far, no caffeine after lunch!!! Take it back and take it back NOW!
J/K lots of good advice.
@wnyx585am: Thats what I am talking about!

For me insomnia begat insomnia, I used to worry about work, 'oh crap if I fall asleep now I will sleep for 4.5 hours. How will I do at work? Crap now 4 hours... 3...did I sleep or just lay here?

Then I embraced the idea and I love watching or even thinking about going crazy due to insomnia. I focus on fight club. I play with the idea that the worst thing that could happen to me is that I go crazy and develop an alter ego that earns a living, I would be ok with that, perhaps I will raise an army, humm ok with that too. I also replay movies or tv shows in my head. The walking dead is my favorite and being it was on Sunday (the hardest due to me staying up all weekend and sleeping in late) it worked well.

@johnnys13: I've tried a few supplements (and others) such as melatonin that haven't really worked. I haven't heard of ZMA though, I think I'll investigate that. Chamomille has also been on my to-try list for a while, I keep forgetting about it. I'll pick some up the next time I go shopping.

Add-on:
For me it is very important not to think about list-type stuff. I am a bit of a compulsive list maker. The usual purpose of making lists is to settle my mind. But if I start thinking about what I need to do tomorrow, or things to put on a shopping list, or things to get ready before a trip just before bed, my brain is going to lock onto that like a hamster wheel. My mind HATES sleeping and will latch onto any excuse to stay awake and think about stuff, no matter how trivial.

I also use an ocean sound maker and in the summer a ceiling fan to create white noise. The sound of the ocean is another psychological trigger to sleep. I do keep a clock in my room and I do not have blackout curtains as I sleep better when I know what time it is. I find total blackout to be very disorienting.

Everything people have been saying about rituals, habitual sleeping time, and getting rid of chemical and physical distractions have studies backing them. What @jseureau said will also help. Melatonin is a naturally occurring chemical in your brain that is released at night and tells your brain to start releasing the other sleep-time hormones. Taking more won't have a stronger effect, so there isn't a risk of addiction. For a few nights try taking it an hour before you plan to sleep, if anything it will at least relax you.

Additionally you can:
- Take a warm bath before bed
- Don't look at a electronic screens before bed, or get http://stereopsis.com/flux/ which will make your computer screen less blue once the sun sets
- Exercise during the day
- Make sure to get up at the same time every day, even if you went to bed later

@publicart: Well if I was planning on drinking myself to sleep, I definitely won't be doing that now.

I couldn't see myself doing that anyway. It's really just a beer, MAYBE two in the early evening to unwind.

Even if I'm out, I hardly drink more than that. But that's a topic for a different thread entirely.

@lll0228: only problem I have is exercise and eating right. Not that I have an actual issue with either one, I do enjoy both but finding time to do either is actually a great challenge.

By the time I get home from school/ studying, I often hardly have the energy to move (a time I still cant sleep, ironically). My day also starts early and ends late, so finding a good/ smart time for daily exercise is especially difficult.

Eating healthy is plausible, just difficult. Aside from the cost factors of food that isn't 80% preservatives, it takes time and energy to cook a meal. I do enjoy cooking, but again tiredness comes into play. The most I can usually muster up the energy for is a quick burger on the skillet.

I'm definitely just being lazy to an extent with those two, but I do plan on starting both this summer once I have more flexibility with my time. If I can start a regiment over the summer, I should be able to keep it up when classes start again.

If it's just for a night or two take a benadryl (or 2, max) about 45 minutes before you want to be asleep. Give yourself a full 8 hours to sleep and you should wake up refreshed.

@figgers3036: I do like reading before bed. Sometimes it helps...but most of the time I have the same issue as I do with lists, I get too into it and it just wakes me up haha.

Reading something dry is a pretty good idea though. The challenge will be finding something that's both dry and interesting enough to be worth my time to read.

Oh, and I guess everything I listed were clinical solutions. What I do personally if I'm laying in bed and can't sleep, but am tired, is start having a pleasant daydream. Usually the combination of good feelings from my random fantasy, and laying in the dark puts me to sleep. Also try the solo version of sex ;)