"Sleep hygiene". Possibly orgonite. ;p

If the problem persists, you should go see a doctor. Here in Germany there are specialized sleeping labs, where you are monitored over night to find out what is wrong. I'm sure you have those in the US too. It might be a breathing problem or some imbalance.

As a short term solution you could try intentionally staying awake for a full night, stay active and work through the next day as usual. So in effect, just skip one night's sleep completely. You will feel awful on the next day, but in the evening you will be so tired, that you probably will fall asleep immediately as soon as you allow yourself to do so. That helped in my case to reset my bio-rhythm in a similar case. And I also use the same trick to get rid of jet-lag, when I travel long distances.

I've been having a hell of a time falling asleep lately.

But that's what happens when you're used to someone else being in the bed with you and all of a sudden they aren't there anymore.

brilliant reply Tauto. :P

Looks like those shock treatments are finally paying off.

I think the criticism was that the original material didn't portray it as a perfect society, instead the movie sort of did.

I don't know, haven't read Heinlein's novel; but iirc it was actually meant as a serious thought experiment about citizenship and whether it should be granted without military service.
The movie was meant as a satire, and added a lot of quasi-Nazi imagery with the style of the uniforms etc. And Johnny Rico in the novel wasn't blonde and blue-eyed, but a Filipino whose native language was Tagalog.

What sparked that brainfart, tinyE? ;p

As a genuine insomniac, you dont have insomnia, you are just having trouble sleeping. There is a massive difference.

Try cutting down on the weed!

An Emile Zola book will solve your problem. Over-the-counter drug, so you don't need any prescription. 2 pages before bed time for 7 days.

Cannabis is actually prescribed for insomnia (try an indica blend instead of sativa). If you drink a lot of coffee you may need to have a (small) cup before bed. (Otherwise the caffeine withdrawal will make you anxious and unable to rest.) I often have a cup of tea before bed. Caffeine takes an hour or so to be absorbed through the gut, so bear that in mind. Alcohol knocks out the mind but does not grant sleep; when it wears off in the early morning (for normal nocturnal sleepers) typically the person wakes feeling more tired than before they went to bed, so it is to be avoided in large quantities.

I highly recommend the first sleep expert, the late Dr Dement, and his excellent book, The Promise of Sleep.

I know of at least two people (one I married) who cannot "fall" asleep. They must empty their mind, just like meditation, in order to calmly descend into heavier stages of sleep.

As others have noted, blue light is particularly bad. Exercise is useful, though less so at the point of sleep. As noted earlier, the human circadian cycle is about 24½ hours, and is reset by (bright) daylight. (If you travel to a time zone East, go outside early in the new morning and do some light exercise and this will reset your brain to the new zone. West will be a little more difficult, but the same process.) White noise can help. Recent research (on 18 people!!11!) found that rocking from side-to-side increased quantity & quality of lighter sleep states (no effect on REM), as well as speeding a person to sleep. So buy a hammock!

C19th Britain — i.e., before the advent of electric light, now lost to most in the developed world — people used to have two sleeps overnight, with a small break in between (for reading, snacking, gardening, horizontal jogging, etc.). My mother complains that she cannot sleep through the night; I remind her that this is normal for her (octogenarian) age. Just nap when you can.

Our bedroom is blacked out. Usually no other lights, apart from the teevee-cum-monitor or (rarely) a bedside reading lamp, when it is turned on (for me to read or play a game, or for us to watch a movie, etc.). I usually read if I can't sleep, though I have fallen asleep many times whilst playing a game (this is quite easy ludo decubito :). The worst case is when I am too tired to read, which is fortunately not too often.

Of course, there are always chores to do, so — after failing to nod off for a protracted period — I will get up and prepare whatever on the agenda that hasn't been done.

Being irritable is worse than tired, since being tired can be ameliorated by working slowly, whereas being grumpy just makes more work (like throwing a pen across the room because the ink splutters, then having to pick up the pieces and clean the walls that it bounced off). I have many times been so sleep-deprived I can barely recall the next step in a well-known process, but still manage to complete whatever task is required.

my wife mentioned getting a sleep study done. but the thought is just... so incredibly invasive. i have trouble falling asleep in the comfort of my own home, much less a clinical environment like doctors office or a hospital. i hate hospitals, makes me anxious just thinking about it.

Whenever I've found myself unable to go sleep, when I have just a couple of hours left before I have to go to work, I either listen to an audiobook on my phone(the audible app plays the audio even when you turn off the screen), or I go in another room and watch a boring show on TV for about about 30 minutes.

For me, this distracts my attention from the thoughts that are keeping me awake, for long enough to start getting sleepy.

i have not indulged in over 2 years. unless there was some long dormant thc lingering within my body, i doubt that had anything to do with it. and that said, i used to occasionally use it as a sleep aide.

I just re-saw it, and it's such a good movie.