Here's a TED talk about sleep which has some helpful tips. And also some tips from the CDC.

Personally, I find that the most important thing is routine. Always get up at the same time (give or take half an hour). Going to bed at the same time is also important, but I don't necessarily go to sleep. I disengage from all electronics at least an hour before I want to be actually asleep. Both because blue light (which I think is only a mild contributor) and because most anything I'm going to end up doing on my PC or phone is designed to hold my attention for as long as possible. I usually read a book on my e-reader, which has a passive display. Books can sometimes keep me up late if they're good, but that's less common.

On the nights where I have trouble, I will usually do some self-directed meditation. My usual go-to is to focus on my muscles one group at a time, tense them slightly, then relax them completely. I often imagine a scifi scanner slowly moving a beam up from my toes, relaxing me as it goes.

Hope you find some of that useful.

I put some podcast with timer, I look for podcasters with the same tone of voice, so I can listen to him and fall asleep.
My problem is that when I want to sleep my brain wants to think, so listening to something I force "him" to concentrate in the voice and stop thinking, that way I can sleep.

Imagine stuff. Thats my best advice. I sort of start a scenario in my head with no proper connection to my real life. The idea is that I wanna force my brain from thinking about daily things that may cause me to stay awake or be nervous or something - so by imagining these scenarios instead of trying to go "Don't think about X" or something I let them go, then since they are of no real consequence or value I can slip out of them easily when I feel asleep.

Here are a few tricks I've used to fall asleep over the years. You can use some of these in tandem, but I will write them all as standalone methods.

1. 4-7-8 breathing --- inhale through your nose for a four count, hold for a seven count, and exhale with a whooooosh though your mouth for eight. The counts can be anything that is comfortable, but if you can do seconds, that is excellent.
2. Stretch your body out straight then, if your palms are facing you, rest the inside pad of your palms on your eyes. Relax your eyes and find the darkest point and visualize yourself moving closer to the darkness or the darkness moving toward you --- allow it to consume you. This works well with the breathing.
3. Visualize yourself roaming your childhood home. Start at the front door, move through the house toward a stairwell -- when you reach it, count from 1 - 13 and visualize yourself moving up the stairs. When you reach the top, walk to the furthest wall and then come back. As you come back down the stairs, count from 13 - 1.
4. If you're truly awake and cannot sleep for the life of you, whip out an instruction manual for a television, clock radio, or something equally boring. Read that cover to cover.

With all of these, it is important to relax all of your muscles (drop your shoulders, relax your face, etc.) Another thing that often works is to sit on the edge of your bed and say, 'I'm going to fall asleep and wake up at 6am (or whatever)'

It's also handy to be a little cold at night. Cold showers before bed are great, which seems counterintuitive.

I do a few things to help me fall asleep:

• I meditate, focusing on my breathing, calming my mind

• I think about what it feels like to wake up in the morning, when my bed is so comfortable and I feel most relaxed. I try to bring that same sentiment to the present moment.

• Masturbating or having sex is a tried and true method

• I listen to either a buddhist dharma talk, a lecture, or an audio book. I just put my phone directly under my pillow at a low volume so I can hear it but its not obnoxiously loud in the environment

• Lower the temp as much as possible.

• Eliminate as much light as possible

• If worse comes to worse, I may take a very low dose of melatonin, which as research shows, less is more. I typically buy a 3mg pack and cut them into tiny pieces. But this is not a long term solution.

• Eliminate caffeine after 2:00pm. If I drink any amount of caffeine in the afternoon, I can tell that my mind is more active at night. Try limiting your intake of any stimulant if possible.

Take medication. Seriously, if nothing works just go to a doctor. You may have something serious that needs to be addressed. You may just need some cheap sleep medication with no side effects. And you can always choose not to take it if you think you can handle it on your on. But don’t spend years battling alone with insomnia when there’s a much easier solution available.

Only using the bed for sleeping did a lot for me. Like if you're having trouble falling asleep do something (not on a screen) until you feel tired/feel like you can go to sleep. I really try not to be in bed if I'm not going to sleep, reading an article/book/prose on my phone.

In addition to many excellent tips already here, I like the sound of rain. There's lots of rain noise audio tracks and/or apps which generate it. I put one on my phone, turn it down and put it on the nightstand. Nothing beats a warm summer night with the window open and an actual storm going on outside though.

I’m a fan of Headspace sleepcasts and nighttime meditations.

Kindle Paperwhite is my sleeping pill. I bought a cover that keeps it on the side, i lay on my side and start reading it. 15 minutes top i'm sleeping.

I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping.

These are my sleep tips.

Leading up to sleep:

• No caffeine. (Ever, ideally. But definitely avoid the afternoon bump. Take a 30 - 40 minute siesta instead.)
• No eating before sleep
• No alcohol before sleep
• No screens before sleep
• Lower the bed temperature (I throw a couple ice packs under the comforter if it's warm)
• Ritual: I like having a cup of sleepy time tea and reading a book for a while

When trying to sleep:

• Breathing exercises: counting to ten, 4-7-8 as mentioned, etc.
• Ear plugs
• Blindfold
• If all else fails, bring in the big guns: Yoga Nidra for Sleep - Powerful Guided Meditation to Fall Asleep Fast

Have you tried Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep?

Also check out the album Weightless by Marconi Union. It was created in collaboration with sound therapists, and neuroscientists found that it was the most relaxing song in their tests.

I noticed a paradox: I fall asleep when I don't focus on falling asleep. And I have a simple method that I don't think has ever failed me before.

I look at a fixed spot (a specific point on the wall, the corner of an object, etc.) keeping a soft, relaxed focus. My eyes will try to move and, every time, I gently refocus on that spot—over, and over, and over again. Doesn't matter how many times: I'll keep doing it, without worrying too much about the method's effectiveness.

Boredom and repetition are great facilitators when you try to shut off the brain.

I'm a weirdo, but for me, the number one sleeping tip I have is to imagine complex, self-regulating systems in action around you. Something like the water cycle, the sun's nuclear fusion cycle, the various processes in the cars driving at night (like the engine's combustion cycle or the ECU controlling emissions), the numerous steps in network data transmission on the internet, etc.

I find it helps because it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction and relaxation to think of something I cannot control and have no influence over, but nonetheless works perfectly, and it provides a lot of visualization material to kickstart dreaming.

Try sleep with me podcast. I listen to it every single night. It is bedtime stories for adults.

Monitor your caffeine intake (if you do consume caffeine) and take note of how it affects you. This was a big factor for myself, for a time. I tried 8 months caffeine free, and I didn't find my sleep patterns any worse or better. But afterwards, I did find that I had to maintain regular caffeine consumption for a decent level of tolerance to it. Also, it's helpful to abstain from high amounts of caffeine before bed. A cup of tea is probably fine, but a Red Bull or a coffee is probably not a good idea. But the more caffeine you consume regularly, (at least, I've found, for me) the more tolerant to its negative sleep effects you will become.