Insomnia

[Phil TK]

Turn the light off and have a CD with speech rather than music on just loud enough so you need to concentrate to hear, this stops your mind wondering onto things that worry you.

I'm a slave to insomnia a lot of the time, but listening to the BBC World Service (R4) with the volume set as above does get me off to sleep, sometimes I'll combine it with reading beforehand until I feel sleepy, it doesn't matter what sort of book really, - as long as its interesting, dull books simply let your mind wander, usually on to things to worry about..
This time of year it's easy to be woken in the early hours by cold, so I wear a thin EDZ top which is comfy and warm, once the frosts get going the electric blanket will be going on, I switch it off when I get into bed and a timer switches it on again at 3.30am when the temperature drops.
Sometimes I sleep well for weeks then go through a bad patch like I am now because it's a perfect storm at the moment. I have Crohn's, which is giving me cramps, I have a chest infection and it's gets cold suddenly because of some nasty easterly onshore winds coming in and the estuary was foggy the past week and I get woken up by foghorns! Bah.
Oh, 'forgot, a proper neck support can work wonders, you can use a towel rolled up and held with elastic bands initially and/or progress to one of the many special pillows that do the same job.
I might add I avoid 'nytol' type drugs and potions, you can't take that stuff for the rest of your life.