I think this happens to a lot of kids and teens our age. Try not to use electronics before bed. Read, relax, get your creative juices flowing before you go to bed. I admit I don't follow this rule very much- this is where a majority of the ski lodge ideas come from. One thing I like to do to fall asleep is to RP something in my head for a while -- so imagine yourself hunting dragons, or training to become a Jedi, or beating the Elite Four, or whatever. It's fun and doesn't make me want to jump up and write it down.

Or you can have Red threaten to sing opera if you don't fall asleep in the next half hour -- that's always a magnificent incentive. 

Captcha says taph. Like epitaph? 

Maybe he wants salt water taphy!

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Ah yes, this is a regular thing for me. I normally don't fall asleep anymore until after midnight.  I am constantly thinking about things, though ironically, that's what helps me fall asleep. (Don't ask, I'm just weird that way.) Normally what keeps me awake is stress, so I have therefore decided I am insomniatic.

My best advice is to try and direct your mind on another train of thought. Something less active-inducing. For me, I come up with mini stories in my head. I create characters, plots, settings, and dialogue, and that somehow makes me fall asleep.

Maybe listen to soft music? Something that won't rile up your emotions or thoughts.

TV? (If you have one in your bedroom.)  I sometimes turn on the tv to something comforting, turn down the volume, set a sleep timer, and let the background noise lull me to sleep.

Stare into the darkness and think about your place in the universe.

Chase the sun! (Then you'll never have to fall asleep, and by the time bedtime rolls around again, you'll be so physically and mentally tired, it won't matter!

If all else fails, count sheep.

This is generally terrible advice, and I apologize. But again, this is coming from a sleep deprived insomniatic lunatic, so I'm sort of a hypocrit in this area anyways.

OHMYGOSH, you have this problem too?! I thought I had some weird condition, because it takes me forever to fall asleep! I've just discovered some things that help me fall asleep faster:

1. Get lots of excercise during the day.

2. Don't eat caffeine before bed, including chocolate.

3. While you're trying to go to sleep, either listen to soft music on an MP3 player, or play a movie in your head. I found that Kung-Fu Panda works best.

Hope this helps!

City of Safe Harbors by Port Blue.

Don't ask questions. Just listen.

I don't know what it is about this song but if you're listening to it at night with your eyes closed it's like hypnosis.

Like Ruby said, avoid electronics. (That doesn't work well for me, though. It doesn't make me fall asleep faster.)

Um....really, the only thing that works for me is medication.  

It usually takes me at least half an hour to fall asleep on a good day - sometimes an hour and a half. It doesn't help that I sleep right by my sisters, who are both capable of falling a sleep under five minutes. So, unless I am extremely tired, I won't fall asleep for a while. And if I went to a new surrounding, I just stay awake for what seems like hours. And then I get headaches and feel so tired, but I can't go to sleep!

Recently it's gotten a bit better (recently meaning within the past week or so, better meaning within three quarters of an hour.). But I've also been a lot more active and busy recently. So maybe that counts for something. 

When I can't go to sleep, I usually let my mind wander, wondering about CB, NaNo, my writing (this is when I get good ideas), books that I have read, my cousins (I dream of them and my family a lot. The majority of us are close, but we only see each other maybe thrice a year.), school, worry about the next day/month, go over the highlights of the day, etc. I'm pretty busy at night - or, at least my mind is. 

Step 1. Make sure the room is dark. Turn on music, whether it be on your phone, radio, iPod, mp3, or whatever.

Step 2. Imagine yourself in the music video of each song, as if you are singing it. Either act it out or play it in your head with your eyes open.

Step 3. When you come to a song you don't like, close your eyes.

Step 4. When a good song comes on, you must open your eyes and do the music video thing again.

Step 5. Continue until you fall asleep.

The reason why this works is because 1) the darkness produces more melatonin in your body, which makes you fall asleep much faster, and 2) you are constantly opening and closing your eyes, which makes your eyelids feel heavy, therefore making you fall asleep much faster, and 3) the music, whether it be opera, pop, or rock, lulls you to sleep - again, much faster.

TIP: No music? Just blink a lot, until you get tired. This has almost the same effect, but music helps.

TIP: Let's say you want to fall asleep by midnight. Go to bed at ten. Always go to bed two hours earlier than you plan to sleep so that you can ensure you get enough sleep.

TIP: Write all your thoughts in a journal before you sleep to push them all out of your head. They can wait until the morning. Don't say, "But I'll forget them!" You already wrote them in the journal. They're not going anywhere. 

This works for me, maybe just because I'm a musical person, but I suggest you try it out tonight!

I have one album on my iPod that's a failsafe for me.  If I'm having a hard time falling asleep, that always helps me.  

What helps me the most though, is listening to music and concentrating on nothing but the lyrics in my head.  If you do it hard enough, all of the extraneous thoughts should float away. 

I don't get why nobody can fall asleep so easily! I can go to sleep usually in under 10 minutes. But now it takes me, maybe 15-20 minutes to fall asleep. Probably because of the heat.

I believe I was the one who posted something like this awhile back, but anyway.

Yeah, I have the same problem. @Nora the Singer, I'm going to try what you said about opening and closing your eyes tonight. I'll let you know how it works... :)