i used to claim (queen-ship) of insomnia-
i have (for the most part) got better-
it used to be very common- now it is a rarer occurance but sometimes it is next to impossible to shut the brain down.
i would be falling asleep in front of the tv, go to bed to be wide awake and the brain racing-everywhere.
still beats me sometimes but i have become much better at recognizing and fighting it. i have found ways to (calm/quiet) my racing mind by using soft instrumental music- sometimes i can (self-hypnotise) myself to sleep- by concentrating on a black dot...once i finally visualize the black dot i make it grow- and grow and by the time my (mind-screen) is reaching full black i drift to sleep. that is sometimes hard to accomplish but when it works it is great.
i have a whole stack of what my kids call (mom's mood music)
some of it is actual sleep-meditation cd's some is just soft instrumental stuff. if i can concentrate on one thing for a while i can go to sleep- it is the racing all over that keeps me awake-
i have spent years working on this- used to be i would literally go 4 & 5 days without sleep- now, i may have a restless night- but they are fewer and farther apart. having an understanding hubby helps too-