Phrase 3 is reserved for emergencies – or when you’ve tried to turn off and you’ve done the routine, but sleep remains elusive.

These are my top tricks and, whilst I imagine that what works (and what definitely doesn’t) is totally unique; they show that you can be creative with strategies – and there’s an answer out there somewhere!

1. Variations on counting sheep: counting in French (works for me); alphabet lists (eg girls names beginning with A, then B, then etc.); counting your breathing.

2. Deep breathing: get a breathing book. It’s another basic that I seem to grapple with – but there’s a proper way of doing it that (when I remember) can sometimes lull me into sleep.

3. Nice thoughts lists: thinking of all the good things that have happened that day and all the important people helps me if I’m feeling a little down when I’ve gone to bed.

4. Imagining tomorrow: the therapeutic exercise didn’t stick that well with me, but imagining how you’d like the next day to be can sometimes be a nice way to get to sleep.

5. Talking tapes. For when your head won’t be quiet, at a low level, and preferably with no exciting sound effects.

6. Hypnotherapy tapes. As above. And particularly if you end up listening to the talking tape’s story rather than falling asleep.

7. Talking to yourself. Not a sign of madness (I hope); but, sometimes, telling myself that it will be okay and giving myself a little personal pep talk when I’m lying there waiting for sleep to make an appearance, can be just what I’m looking for.

The ‘off-switch’ to my thoughts is slightly faulty; and, I tend to find that my head doesn’t slowdown, as it should, in the run up to bedtime. So, in order to break the cycle and stop thinking or worrying or planning or having ideas, the following things seem to interrupt my thought patterns:
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