I&#x27;ve cut out all sources of caffeine completely, except for a glass of tea right after I wake up where I pour away the first steep.<p>I use NRR 33 earplugs and at least one white noise machine going, sometimes two, to avoid any noise pulling me back from near-sleep. The room is dark, but I wear a sleep mask just in case.<p>I&#x27;m averaging 1-2 hours with those. I&#x27;m doing the sleep hygiene thing, where I don&#x27;t do anything in bed except (try to) sleep and sex. I think you&#x27;re also supposed to just get up if you can&#x27;t sleep, but if I do that, I just never sleep. I come back even more exhausted, and I&#x27;m still looking at the same damn wait.<p>Mental activity can definitely make it worse, but I haven&#x27;t found a meditation&#x2F;visualization sort of trick that really helped. The best I can do is psyche away the frustration and just... wait.<p>Alcohol&#x2F;pot help maybe a little, but then I don&#x27;t sleep deeply at all, always wake up really tired. I haven&#x27;t tried prescription drugs. I&#x27;m told they have the same effect on sleep quality, and I don&#x27;t want that. I do get much-needed good sleep once I&#x27;m there. It just takes too damn long.<p>I&#x27;d love to hear if anything&#x27;s worked for you.