I often have trouble sleeping, and the change in season seems to bring on the insomnia even more. I'm not sure why, and no doctor yet has been able to help me with it, bar filling me up with sleeping pills, which, as you may be aware, just wreck you the next day. But recently I found that these simple tips really help me get to sleep when the tossing and turning begins. So I thought I'd share them with you.

1. Relax your muscles: Isolate the muscles in your toes and tense them for five seconds then relax them for five seconds. Begin at your toes and work your way up to your head, all the while visualising yourself in a peaceful place. Sounds kooky but it works.

2. Instead of stressing about getting to sleep, think about staying awake. It reduces the anxiety about not being able to fall asleep, and is known as 'paradoxical intent' and works similarly to reverse psychology.

3. Read for an hour before bed. It clears your head and forces you to concentrate on something other than your worries.

4. Keep a notebook beside your bed and, instead of worrying about things, simply write them down. It clears your head and will help to relax you.

5. Repeat this mantra: "There's nothing I can do about it now, so I'll do it tomorrow." It's the one time when procrastination can actually work in your favour.

6. Breathe. Start at 100 and every time to take a breath count backwards. Long smooth breaths will reduce your stress. You should be breathing no more than 12–14 breaths per minute. 

7. Stay cool. A fan in your room will do you wonders. Not only is it best to be cool when you're trying to get to sleep, but the white noise of the fan will soothe your brain.

8. White noise. My aunty travels a lot and is always in different hotels and universities for conferences and the like. She has this trick of turning her clock radio on a non-station – as in, to the static white noise sound you get when you're not tuned into a station. She turns it down low and covers her head with the doona, face mask or a pillow. According to something she read somewhere, it is supposed to remind your brain of when you were a foetus, with the sound of white noise and the warm, safe surrounds soothing you to sleep.

Do you have any suggestions for how to get to sleep when the z's are hard to come by? Why not share them with us?