Some new Suggestions from Readers

South, Not North    "I suggest you amend the tip on "sleeping with the head pointing North". It has long been known in India that sleeping this way is damaging to mind and body, and that burying the dead with the head pointing northward makes the body decay more quickly. The premise is that the body can be seen as a large magnet, with the head as the north pole and the feet as the south pole. Since unlike poles attract, it is best to have the feet (south pole) facing North. This results in minimal blood circulation and low activity in the brain, and therefore more restful sleep."- Ron

  Not Thinking "I have one method that never fails to put me to sleep. As long as I'm 'decently' tired, i.e., not trying to overdo it, it's bedtime, etc., I just lie down, close my eyes, and concentrate on 'not thinking'. This often becomes a competition of my strength of will versus my instinct to think. Occasionally a pinprick of an idea strikes you, but you just have to ignore it, and it always puts me to sleep in about two minutes. It's better then just lying there. "- Lance


Smoke Yourself to Sleep
"I've found the best thing to get me asleep is cannabis—and all the people I know who smoke it agree." - Anonymous



 Sex—Alone or with Other(s)
"My husband and I have another solution: sex or masturbation. That usually helps you fall asleep." -Jennifer



 Earplugs 
 "How about plain old-fashioned earplugs? I finally figured out that the reason I couldn't relax into sleep was that I was being kept irritated and awake by the crickets chirping outside my window. Earplugs work! And they're inexpensive, too." - Vanessa



 Bedtime Routine
"It helps to develop a bedtime routine. Have a series of things that you always do when going to sleep. For example, before going to bed, feed the dog, fold laundry, check the locks. Humans are creatures of habit.
Remember the guy with the dogs? He rang a bell and they knew it was dinnertime. It's the same theory. Doing this will 'program' your body to know that it's bedtime." - Erinn


 Hot Water Bottle 
 "To help you sleep after a high stress day, lie down with a hot water bottle on your stomach, close your eyes and breath deeply, so the bottle rises and falls. We carry a lot of tension there and the weighted heat releases it." - Elaine

Green Cows—and Other Animals of Color  "Actually, I feel a little silly passing this along since I'm up right now with, well, insomnia. But, a technique I've generally had good success with is to visualize animals in the wrong colors. For example, blue cat, green cow, red elephant, and so on. After coming up with a color/animal combination I try to actually visualize it and then I move on to the next one. Coming up with the combinations and then trying to picture the animal seems to keep my mind occupied and distracted from whatever stressful thoughts were keeping me awake and it gets boring enough that I can generally fall asleep pretty quickly. I've shared this with two coworkers with insomnia and they've reported that it helped them as well." - Candace                                                                                                       Reference:  http://www.well.com/~mick/insomnia/insomnia.16.4.html