i just breathe in and out through my nose and count sheep

Sippin' on gin and juice (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง

I can't sleep without everything being dark and all quiet.

What's some good tea you recommend?

I enjoy reading before bed but recently I've been finding meditation very helpful in relaxing my mind and body before rest. More often than not, the reason I am kept awake unable to sleep is restless thought and anxiety, both of which I am able to deal with by clearing my mind. There are lots of guided meditation videos on YouTube and its been surprisingly effective even when I was just starting out. Practicing mindfulness has definitely helped relieve stress from my life and allowing me to sleep better.
asmr is pretty cool as well but you need to have the diligence to not get distracted and use your phone/laptop for anything else, plus personally, i feel wierd weaingr headphones all night haha

i've heard this but nothing calms me down like a tv with the volume down

unno it really helps me to have some sort of light sound

Valerian capsules did wonders for me, but gave me some trippy dreams.

Stretching before bed also.

Smoking MJ certainly helps and brushing my teeth makes me instinctively tired. What always works for me is turning on a fan on medium, just for the sound of the fan not the airflow

Valerian rules and I like to take it every now and then for this exact reason. Crazy ass dreams all fucking night.

this. my doctor said that he'd rather me smoke weed than take sleeping pills. weed knocks me out no matter what. pop an adderall and drink like 2 cups of coffee and it would still knock me out.

I tried this for a while : http://www.medicaldaily.com/life-hack-sleep-4-7-8-breathing-exercise-will-supposedly-put-you-sleep-just-60-332122

But for this technique to work well, I'd have to do it for 2 months and I'm a lazy guy. It does relax me a lot though.

warm showers are nice and relaxing

Tuning into some really boring stream helped me a lot. I'm being serious.

melatonine

When I was in college, I had this Econ professor who was a drone, and he always put up his lectures online. So when I missed class, id go over the webcasts of his lesson, and every single time by the 5th minute I would be knocked the fuck out. I quickly learned that this shit was stronger than NyQuil. Granted this may subconsciously make you always fall asleep in lectures if you do it often, but I saved some lectures just so I could fall asleep. So yeah download some casts of your most boring professors.

Nowadays some whiskey and indica will do the trick.

maintain a massive and long lasting sleep deficit. at any point in time any day i can fall asleep for 6+ hours within like ~10 min of laying down

Helps me as well.

Chamomile tea usually works for me. It's nice with a bit of honey.

There's a bunch of teas you can probably find in grocery stores marketed as 'sleepytime' and such, with a bunch of other things like valerian root, lemongrass, lavender, vanilla, etc.

some people fall asleep to the sounds of whales and dolphins communicating. i guess it makes them think about whats in the ocean.

here's an 11 hour video of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sxDuaoOBfI

Text someone you enjoy talking to and have a nice conversation.

Then wake up later and realize that you fell asleep on them and apologize profusely.

This

I might look like a douche but this doesn't sound relaxing to me, much more like some creepy af sounds

listen to an audio book

I like to run like an hour before I plan to go to bed

Along with the excellent suggestions in this thread. Create a sleep time regimen that 1. Gets you away from distractions (TV, computer, cell phone) 2. Is repeatable night after night so that your body starts to recognize that it is sleep time, and 3. Occurs at the same time each night about a half hour to hour before you plan to go to bed.

So for example I turn off my lights, turn off my computer, and set my phone to low notification mode. As well as clean up and brush my teeth. By the end of it all I fall asleep quite easily. Also avoid consuming caffeine or sugars in the evening because they will stay in effect hours after you consume them.

My general point being that falling sleep has more to do with your lifestyle and planning/organization than it does with listening to some weird sounds, boring yourself, abusing medications/drugs, or exhausting yourself to the point of black out.

Steps:
1) Smoke some weed (optional)
2) Go for a walk with an audiobook/chill music
3) Take a shower
zzzz

first step is dimming the lights of your room to the lowest possible. not white, but orange-esque.
second step is taking a nice hot steamy bath for 10~20 minutes
put on large, comfortable clothes.
read a book like "do androids dream of electric sheep"
avoid electronics
obviously a comfortable bed will go a long way.
have background noise set on your computer with speakers on, such as rain/thunder/forest. i recommend http://www.noisli.com/ & http://asoftmurmur.com/
and then go to sleep.

repeat this process always at the same time 30 minutes before the time you actually plan to falling asleep, like other people already mentioned. in no time you'll be doing it easily every night

I'm the kinda guy who can fall asleep in orchestra rehearsal while sitting directly in front of the timpani

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYTBsN-KeNE

all i could think of

benadryl

drink