How do you calm down your mind when you can't sleep?

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I have been having a good bit of trouble sleeping as of late - just can't seem to quiet down my mind. Just curious what some of you do to help settle down your thoughts.

I usually just end up watching TV and hope there is a bottle of wine in the house.

I can't usually sleep when I am bothered by a bad situation which occurred that day. To unravel my fixation, I try to remember the details of a similar but good situation. By remembering what I did right in another situation relaxes my confusion about what I think I did wrong.

This may not work for everyone, but what I do is play little games in my head with words, letters and numbers. It occupies my mind and relaxes me, and it seems to just make me doze off. I've got to get in a comfortable position though, which is why it's more difficult to concentrate on trying to get to sleep when it's so hot.

One of my games is you pick a commonly known rhyme, could be a nursery rhyme, a Christmas carol, a saying, a poem, a verse from a song, etc, but it's best not to choose one that's too long, and you need to be able to remember each word. Then you say the song in your head, tapping your foot or whatever body part you feel comfortable (no double-entendre intended), but it's best to tap something you have two of, like your feet for example. The first time, you tap your left foot when you get to words without an A in, then tap your right foot when you do get to words with an A in. If you tap the wrong foot, you have to start again on that letter. Then once you have completed the first rhyme without going wrong with the feet, do the same but with words with a B in, and so on. Example:-

Jingle (left foot)
Bells (left foot)
Jingle (left foot)
Bells (left foot)
Jingle (left foot)
All (right foot)
The (left foot)
Way (right foot)

...and so on. It's a good way to exercise your brain, and can sometimes be enjoyable once you get into it, and it might draw you away from all those annoying thoughts going round in your head, and because it's a little game with hardly no emotion involved, it calms your brain and your nerves, which usually relaxes you and helps to fall asleep. I know my little game I invented may sound odd or might not even work, but I just thought I'd suggest it anyway.

Very difficult to fall asleep. Used to take Tylenol PMs. A concerned friend thought it was a bad idea. So I stopped that a while back. Now I just stay up... never really getting tired... until I finally go into my bed. Eventually I pass out. Usually. Otherwise I end up watching another episode, movie, browsing the internet, then try again later.

I have that exact same issue. I have found that if I call my brother and have him say good night to me a switch literally switches off in my brain and my thoughts stop racing and I fall asleep. If he does not say good night to me than I just kind of lay there until I crash. Usually that is around two in the morning. Sometimes I look at the computer or read or something. But my brother is like a light switch for me. If he says good night to me I can literally feel my brain stop racing and then I can lay down, and my anxiety will stop and I have no desire to look at the computer or anything and I just fall asleep and wake up refreshed and feeling good around 5 or 6 the next morning.

When I was a baby I used to never be able to fall asleep until my uncle got home. He lived with us for a little while. That particular uncle died a couple of months ago. But no matter what my parents did they could not get me to sleep and then my uncle would come home and tuck me in and I would go right to sleep.

Racing thoughts when I'm trying to sleep has been a constant problem for me. Booze and sleeping pills used to help, but those caused more problems than they solved. Now I just sort of deal with it, which is why I never get more than four hours of sleep per night.

I usually just watch the tv or browse the internet until I feel tired/relaxed enough to go to sleep. Sometimes a night time drink like Horlicks or hot chocolate too.
I also switch the rooms light off if watching tv, so the only light I get is from tv and I don't get distracted by other things in the room

I take prescription sleeping pills now, but usually what I found worked was telling myself the same story over and over again in my head. For me, it was one I made up, but it would probably work with anything.

I take melatonin. Sometimes I've had to take a second one. And I try to keep my bedroom dark after I take it, light destroys it. The stuff I have now is a mixture of melatonin and valarine root, it works extremely well, but boy does it stink!

Some times it also helps to take a shot of liquor as soon as I walk in the door after work. One shot isn't enough to make me feel anything but it sends a signal to my brain that I can unwind now.

I like writing, so when I can't sleep, I pick one of my stories and play out various scenes in my head. If my thoughts wander to something I don't want to think about, I yell "stop!" or "no!" in my head and force myself to think about the story again. I eventually fade off to sleep. I also sometimes think about other enjoyable things, like if I did something fun that day or I will think about a good movie I saw. Things like that, that are fun to think about and distract me from racing or negative thoughts, or from getting obsessed over not being able to fall asleep.

I try to avoid TV shows because if I wind up liking it, I'll be up for 20+ minutes seeing it through to the end. Something warm to drink, calm music, and reading usually helps.

Quiet time before bed helps me - often I'll read a chapter in a book and then turn off the bedside lamp.

I totally make up stories to tell myself too. But when my mind starts racing from a frustrating day...there doesn't seem to be anything that can stop it - a train that's gone out of control.

And even if I do manage to fall asleep physically - I can tell that my mind isn't asleep - because I keep making conscious decisions in my dreams.

I like to make up stories in my head, but the problem that arises from this is that I get to 'into' the stories and then sometimes don't sleep because I want to keep them going xD

It helps me to get up and do something physical...like reorganizing my closet or rearranging stuff hanging on the wall. When I'm laying awake at night thinking too much my mind wants to organize something. Doing something physical breaks the pattern and gives me something external to focus on, and pretty soon I just get tired from the effort and ready to fall asleep.

Or else sometimes I get up and just browse ebay or etsy until I can't keep my eyes open anymore.

I rely on a few different methods to quiet my mind and sleep. The first is to tell myself a story, in my head....a nice story. This is the tactic I've been relying on the most lately, and it usually works in 10 minutes or less. I also have an MP3 player that has lullabies and Meryl Streep telling the story of the Velveteen Rabbit with soothing piano music in the background. Those also help me sleep, especially on long car trips. And finally, sometimes just turning my laptop back on and mindlessly surfing the internet until I feel completely exhausted works, too. I know everyone says that using a computer/electronics will overstimulate you and keep you awake, but it works for me, sometimes.

Hope some of this helps!