[horsecaptin]

The only thing that works for me: go to sleep early enough that I'll get my full eight hours of sleep. Leave some room for those times when I'm more exhausted than usual. This means falling asleep by 10pm to wake up by 6:30am on weekdays.

[robhack]

Yeah, please do try this also. Everyone is different. Personally, When I try just going to bed early, I just end up fully conscious for hours in my bed not falling asleep. (edit: and yes I tried with using f.lux, not using a computer screen, reading on a passive Kindle, just listening to music beforehand).

[horsecaptin]

I have a couple of suggestions for your sleeplessness for those times when you try to fall asleep earlier:

Definitely, it helps to be tired enough to sleep. But to be tired enough, you need to wake up early.. kind of circular. A heavy workout earlier in the day often does the trick too. If you're trying to make it a habit, then doing it gradually is probably the way to go: fall asleep earlier by 15 minutes each day.

There are also times when there are just too many thoughts in your head that won't go away - it helps to close the eyes, roll them up, do one of two techniques:

1) Consciously don't hold onto any particular thought. This is a meditation technique. Oddly enough, I think we do this naturally when we're really tired and sleepy.

2) Take yourself back to an activity that required total presence of mind and body: for me it's sky diving. I'm just falling, adjusting... and pretty soon I'm asleep and dreaming. I guess this is more of a visualization technique.

Both of those work to take the mind off attention grabbing thoughts and moving you to a more relaxed state.