Apart from medication how do you help yourself get to sleep and stay that way if you have a lot on your mind?

oh my!!! I'm excellent to ask about this one lol

I keep a journal - I know it seems kind of grade-school-ish!

But what I do with that journal is, at the end of every night, when I have a lot weighing on my mind, I write all of the things that are bothering me into my journal. It literally takes it off of my mind! Also, you might want to do this like a half hour or so before bed, as writing things down tend to stir up emotions from the day! Also, letting out a sigh or two or ten is okay! It's been proven that by sighing or moaning, you're releasing the physical tension in that part of the body. When you sigh, really pay attention to your body - a stressful sigh will actually release tension off of the heart!!! This helps in relieving the tension of the day!

Another thing I do is a form of self-hypnosis, or super-liminal messaging, also do this during meditation!

I lie down and breathe in deeply and slowly! During my breathing, after I feel it has slowed me down a little bit, I speak out loud and say,

"As I breathe out, I can feel all the stress and tension leaving my body"

Repeat as many times as necessary, it should only take a couple... Then, still rhythmically breathing, I say

"As I breathe in, I can feel my body and mind getting more and more tired!"

Again, repeat... These exercises should prove sure-fire at relieving that stress at the end of the day, and get you a great night's sleep!

Hope this helps!

I used to have insomnia a great deal. Some things that helped me were: any strenuois exercise (fast walking is fine), yoga asanas (stretches), meditation ( guided or not),
some herbal teas, but what really cured my insomnia was lying on the couch , not trying to sleep and watching late night, early morning tv...bored me right to sleep and cured my 2 years of sleeplessness! Yup TV did the trick!

You could try drinking some tea. It helps calm down nerves.
If you like tea. . .or drinking warm milk if you're not lactose intolerant.

Hi confusedAS
get up early if you have slept or not. After a while you get used to the idea bed time is sleep time. I get up at 0530. Works for me and early mornings are nice stress free times too - lucky side effect.
:)

Music

meditate in bed, or just empty your mind by thinking of only one thing in particular - helps if you think of something relaxing

hot tea perhaps? and who says you have to go to bed right then and there? you can go a whole day without sleep and by the time your next bed time rolls around you will knock the f**k out. but if not, then do something rlly boring and when you crawl in bed get into the most comfortable position as you possibly can

Try reverse psychology. Instead of forcing yourself to go to sleep, find something to do that you don't particularly hate nor enjoy (ex. reading old magazines, watching boring TV shows, etc) and try to stay awake through the entire task. You will want to fall asleep instead. Works for me.

I'm up early but still have trouble getting to sleep at times. I do the adult version of the "Bedtime story". I read. Then I turn off the light and tell the story, as far as I've read it, back to myself...works everytime *L*