I know you're not supposed to look at phones etc at night I've got a word game on my old ipod which I play in bed. It actually works better than reading when I've got anxiety as it focuses my brain on the game and I can't think of anything else. It's an anagram game and you have to get the last one with all the letters before you can go up a level. Sometimes you get a really tough one and it takes ages working it out, then I find my brain gets bored and switches off. Quite often I can fall asleep playing it!
At the moment this is working better than reading as I find my mind can still wander whilst in a book, especially the kindle, so I've gone back to a paperback as that is easier to concentrate on.
Last night I had a lot of anxiety which started earlier in the day, OH gone away again
Anyway, I tried playing some relaxing music on the pod and got through a whole album and heaps of games! Eventually I got stuck on a word and brain gave up, turned off the light and got 5 hours solid, whoo hoo. Had to get up for the loo at 6 but managed to get another hour or so after that.
I also had my liquid herbs, sleepy tea, sprayed the bedroom with lavender and Sleep Rescue Remedy and it's still hard to drop off!
Dangermouse is right, it's all about patterns and the brain. It's like this anxiety I'm getting at the moment, it's forming a pattern which needs to be broken otherwise it becomes the new normal.
Also this weekend I had to do a couple of things; one was going to a concert and the other was an airport. In light of recent events it took me a long time to relax during the concert and stay and have a cup of tea at the airport. Driving home I was reasonably ok and then saw a traffic jam and jeez, I could feel the blood draining from my stomach, felt sick and light headed out of nowhere! Stuffed a muesli bar down in case it was food I needed but felt weird all the way home and it was a long drive in the dark and rain, so no wonder I couldn't wind down at bedtime!
I did eat late as well in the end, I do have a habit of that but no wine. Unfortunately if I have wine now in the evening I get disturbed sleep....it's not fair!