When struggling to sleep

Those nights when I am trying to sleep but can't, when my mind is racing and all I want to do is check my phone, these are a few things I do to try and help myself get to sleep:

• I get up out of bed and have a short walk around the house, going to the toilet, having something to drink. This helps get my body moving in a different way, both internally and externally, and I usually feel a least a bit better by the time I am back in bed.

• if I have woken up in the middle of the night and am trying to get back to sleep, I remind myself that it is actually normal to have two blocks of sleep during the night, and this helps clam me down.

• I let my mind wander for a time, and then if I am still buzzing, I bring myself back to something like a meditation practise where I focus on my breath, or the sensations I am feeling on my body. In particular, by controlling and slowing down my breathing and then observing my breath, I am usually able to relax enough to fall asleep.

They are by no means magic tricks for falling to sleep, but they give me a better chance then stewing on the goings on of my mind.