How to switch off and sleep!

[thetorturedpoetsdepartmentssecretary]

My mind is very active when I try to sleep! I start mulling over everything that has ever happened to me. I find it impossible to switch off and consequently I'm only getting a few hours' sleep a night.

Things that have worked for a while but don't anymore:

Counting backwards
Listening to white noise/ rainfall/waves
Listening to audio books
Thinking what I'd do if I won the lottery
The alphabet game - thinking of names etc beginning with each letter of the alphabet
Meditations

I get anxious if I concentrate on my breathing. I get distracted with audio books - spelling out the words in my head so I can't switch off.

I just need something to make me switch off and drift off! It shouldn't be this difficult.

I can't get up and watch TV - my neighbour downstairs hears the floorboards creak and complains.

What works for you?

After having had sleeping problems for thirty years, the most reliable technique I currently use is visualising some small mammal sleeping in a bundled-up, nest like environment, like a dormouse, squirrel, hedgehog. I imagine them curled up, the rise and fall of their breathing, their closed eyes. Then I count while maintaining the image of the sleepy mammal, and I keep counting until I fall asleep. I'm not sure quite how I stumbled upon this, but it has worked consistently for the last year.