Cannot get to sleep!!

A friend of mine got referred to a sleep clinic...one of the big London teaching hospitals...Barts or Guys, I think. They had to spend a night there, head wired up with electrodes to measure brain activity or something and are on medication (dunno what exactly, but not sleeping pills) which had to be monitered and tweaked. Anyway after a lifetime of debilitating insomnia they're sleeping reasonably well. Find out if there's somewhere near you and get your GP to refer you.

So many older people have trouble sleeping. I and many of my friends are the same. Lots of different advice but nothing seems to work.

Usually I go straight to sleep but for years I've woken up after three or four hours and then doze until it's time to get up. But after the alarm goes off I sometimes go back to sleep for half an hour. Maybe I feel that the pressure is off once it's time to get up. I sometimes doze during the late morning or afternoon for half an hour or so but not always.

Gave up a long time ago - having spent a lifetime of unfortunate events which meant it was better/safer to stay awake, I never go to bed until 4 - 4.30 am. But I still find it hard to sleep. Counting composers, going through the alphabet, eventually helps.

Listen to someone speaking on the radio. The BBC World Service will send you to sleep. Try it!

cut right down on sugars and eat your last meal early and I mean by 5. It could be that you have silent gerd, which would wake you and/or stop you getting to sleep.

If I wake at 3, I do the loo break, put another pillow on top, nibble a small oatcake and lie back on the slope. That normally works as does talking radio, very low so I have to concentrate to hear what is said. It stops my whizzy mind and always sends me off to sleep. LBC is ok because it does not have music.

For getting off to sleep, say alexa sleep sounds, ocean works for me, I tell her to turn off in 20 minutes and never hear most waves

Nytol works for me too, but I always spray my pillow with organic lavender Sleep Therapy Pillow Spray. If all else fails, I visualise playing golf - hole by hole - it never fails.

Lyndiloo, I so agree with advice you give in your first post on this thread. It's a method that has worked a miracle for me after extreme sleep difficulties for more than two years caused by peripheral neuropathy and restless legs. Not only could I not sleep, but most nights would find me walking around and doing exercises. Something changed psychologically for me about six weeks ago, very much along the lines of your suggestions, and I've slept well ever since.
Start your mental preparations well in advance of bedtime, Whywhywhy, by telling yourself how sleepy you are and how hard you're finding it to stay awake, stay with that way of thinking until you go to bed and then tell yourself how perfectly cosy and comfortable you are. Keep doing it - it will become a new habit. Good luck.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will be trying some of them, especially telling myself just how tired I am before bedtime. I think a lot has to do with stuff I had to deal with in my past and when I get into bed my head just switches on. I start thinking over past scenarios and even trying to put a happy ending to them, which never happened. I have seen two counsellors in the past and they worked short term. Thank you.

I use these Melatonin gummies link below take 30-60 minutes before your usual bedtime, I think as we get older our natural levels of melatonin drop, worth a try you only need one a night and there are 3 months supply in a container.

www.biovea.net/UK/product_detail.aspx?PID=13318&deptid=0&cid=0&OS=204&NAME=melatonin-gummies--strawberry-5mg-90-gummies

A mug of chamomile tea, then put the timer on an audio book for two hours - very rarely still awake when it switches off.

Make sure the book isn't too exciting - no "whodunnits". A nice family saga is best.

Listening to the story means you aren't thinking about life events that keep you awake.

Try this:
youtu.be/xQ6xgDI7Whc

I haven't any medical solutions and I'm a woman who can sleep anywhere any time if I feel like a nap.
I'm often awake very early or late but never sleep deprived, however, I can honestly say that This Works Sleep Spray, when I do use it, works every time.
It was part of the M&S beauty advent calendar 2019 and a small spritz on my pillow meant that I absolutely couldn't stay awake...and believe me, I tried just to rubbish it's claims.
Only spritz once on the left and right sides of one side of your pillow which ensures that when you turn over, you will still breathe it in.
If you spritz in the middle, that is the part your head lies on and you won't be breathing it in.