No drugs or warm milk you say Balthazar??

hmmmmmmmmm... something you might wanna consider is reading before bedtime, I always find that very helpfull, it tires my eyes.

You find yourself uncomfortable? Get a softer bed, or put a quilt under the sheet for extra comfort.

Also, how many pillows do you use? Most people use 2, but using one can help sleep.

Like Outcast said.

Don't know what they may be called in your neck of the woods but there is a foam rubber mattress pad called where I am as an "egg crate" mattress pad. It is used in many hospitals as a way to help postpone the development of bed sores among the bedridden. It is, basically, a foam rubber pad that has bumpy indentations across its surface similar in appearance to a commerical egg tray.
It makes most lumpy beds comfortable.

On the other hand, if your mattress is really old, it is time for a new one, there's no substitution for a good mattress in proper condition.

Woah this is some really usefull stuff. I've just moved into a brand new bedroom with a new bed (i'd been sleeping in my old bed all my life!) and im having trouble getting to sleep.

True, it usually helps to think about something, and i've found that reading a book in bed really helps you relax. Then , without getting up, turn off the lights (i have a bedside lamp) and after about 15 minutes you're in that semi-dream state you mentioned.

However, my new room is just above my kitchen, so just as im drifting off to sleep something clicks, whirs or thuds. I guess I'll get used to it eventually.....

I used to have trouble sleeping in my tiny single bed, but things improved dramatically when I purchased a "King" sized base and rock-hard mattress .

I always find if I can't go to sleep I will just go watch the news and fall asleep in my lay-z-boy. Turn on CNN or something like that and just start closing your eyes between segments. Soon enough you'll be asleep without even thinking about it. Then you'll wake up a couple hours later and you can move to your bed and you will be out in a very short amount of time there, fn any. Most times I dont even remember waking up and moving spots.

Easy, just listen to Esq moan on about how good Ginger Beer is !

*Thwacks Neo* I don't moan! I simply state my affection for the brew and extol its myriad virtues to all and sundry .

By the way Neo, did you ever get that email I sent you two days ago?

Well I always find picturing a peaceful mountain or waterfall helps me drift off into the land of Nod but if that and everything else fails this is a guaranteed way to fall to sleep!

Exhaust yourself. Do 50 gut crunchers, 50 pressups, run around the block, lift some heavy weights or whatever gets you exhausted etc.

Exhaustion gets you tired...tired makes you ZzzzZZzzzzZZZ. Out like a light

"I don't see any god up here" -- Yuri Gagarin when he first entered orbit around the earth

Umm........I'd rather just read a book thanks

All the advice about a proper mattress is exactly correct.

You must have the correct mattress for you. And that may not be the hardest one. depending on your budget, you can get one of those new foam mattresses that cost about 2 grand and are made of the same foam that NASA uses in spacecraft. These are THE MOST comfortable available. The matress that has independently pocketed coils instead of a wired frame is far superior to any other conventional spring matress.

Do you dislike the particular bed you sleep in, as in it's location or feel?

is this a psycological discomfort with the place you sleep in or with the physical qualities of your matress or bedding? do you like the color of your room and bedding an furniture?

Or do you not like beds at all. Also, I am going to assume you are a teenager.

Studies now show that teens body chemistry sets them up so that their normal wake up time is about 12 noon to 4pm and they are mostly noctorunal for many years. Some never change. So part of your sleep problems may be that you, like all other teens, are having to fight your natural body clock.

Mabey you just don't like to sleep all that much. Many people do not like to sleep because they are convinced that they might miss something important. No Joke.

As to the wanderings of your mind. Sounds like you spend a lot of time with some space sim video game. If these orbs appear to be planets, then that is is.

do some of them perhaps have little tails on them? this could be a clue to something very different going on.

Glock36
"No Comment"

Hello there.

Depending on your personality, here are some good ways to fall asleep rather quickly and easily.

1. Get Drunk before bed-time - tried and tested, works well

2. Smoke Mary-Jane, this depends on the law where you are, or in some cases, your ability to defy the law, note, I dont support law breaking.

3. Listen to relaxing music while in bed, by relaxing I dont mean punk rock or Malmsteens 5th, but more along the lines of Pan Pipes or Uilleann Pipes of which both are utterly different, but provide an equally soothing effect on the mind.

4. Perform rigorous exercises before bed-time, me being the lazy bugger that I am, I classify rigorous excercise as bending over to turn my computer on. However a few jogs round the neighbourhood is likely to work well.

Dont-Do's

Drinking coffee, specially cappachino before bed-time is probably the worst thing you could do as it tends to alter your heartbeat and makes you restless.

@Freedom: I cannot totally agree to the coffee thing: there were numerous cases when I consumed enormous amounts of coffee to stay awake, and it did not help a bit

Life is only given once ... and most often by accident