Last few nights I was having trouble falling asleep. I can fall asleep fine (not usually meaning to) in places other than my usual spot and pillow. But then I get to that spot and I can’t fall asleep. The last two nights it took me around an hour or more to finally become unconscious enough. Seems my problem is letting my SC take over my swallowing (not so much my breathing, though sometimes I worry about that) since I worry about how I’m going to swallow and such when I’m asleep. (I know, the body takes care of that.) But I find it quite hard to focus on other things… even with BB in. I’ve never been one to fall asleep fast, but I just hate TRYING to fall asleep because then that’s all I’m concentrating on and I keep waking myself up by thinking, “Oh yeah, it’s starting to work… Oh, not now it isn’t.” Fun. 
Well, what’s in your room? If you have a TV, computer, video game system, etc. then that may contribute to your ability to sleep, especially if you use them frequently. Also, there may be too much light in your room, but I’m mostly concerned about what you use your bedroom for. If any of the above things are in your room, then it could be that you subconsciously relate those things to your bed, making your more alert once you get in it.
Apart from those possibilities, you could be causing yourself to wake up by expecting to. You may think that it’s inevitable that you’ll be made more alert by your bed, and so you are. My only advice for that would be to not expect to become more alert.
You may also try redesigning your bedroom to trick yourself into treating it like a different place.
I have the same problem, ever since I was a kid, I always knew that it would take at least 1 hour or more to actually fall sleep. And I hate that specially when I really want/need to fall asleep fast.
But I think that I have that problem because I always go to sleep very late, and maybe the body gets used to that bad habit and hence, the so many hours you need to ‘‘wait’’ before falling asleep. Maybe that could be a reason to your problem?
Hmm… I have no TV, no computer, no video games. Sometimes I’ll play on my ipod until I get tired. A few months ago I got rid of all light so I could get used to it to accomodate for my roommate in college. I might read late or such, but it’s not that often and the late studying was pretty rare too. I just tend to focus too much on what my body’s doing and that keeps me awake. I expect to fall asleep but I’m not trying to catch myself. It’s been several years since my bedroom was rearranged and I’m currently cleaning it out for college. (Maybe I should fall asleep some weird place on my bed or the floor. 
) Oh well, thanks. 
I have been going to bed later than usual, but two nights ago I tried falling asleep later than usual. Last night was earlier… and in a week and a half I’m going to start working third shift for the summer so that will really mess up my sleep. 
Well, one manages to fall asleep easily when they don’t notice, and instead keep themselves awake if they actively try; I spy a pattern here 
As I learned personally, if you can’t fall asleep, it means you have to stop trying; just forget about the whole thing and think of something else, preferably pleasant and relaxing; and find a comfortable position, and stay there. Really, stay still. Moving about is the true sleepkiller. Just stretch to relax your muscles once you find a good position, and keep yourself that way, just forget about your body altogether.
Sweet dreams everyone
Thanks. Usually that works but the last few nights I’ve still found my mind wandering but then I’ve only been still and daydreaming. Anyway, guess I’ll just keep my BB and daydreams of anime… 
what is BB?
Anyhow, I don’t just love trying to fall asleep. It has always been an issue for me. Always 100% of the time when I used to have sleep overs, I was the one to fall asleep last, always amazed to see people falling asleep. I was creepy to my sister, I would actually get out of bed after trying to sleep and just watch her sleep. (I actually learned a lot about sleep and REM by watching her. I even did experiments to see what I could make enter her dreams…then awake her during REM and ask)
I would even sneak out of the house at a young age and just go walking around while the whole neighborhood slept.
Or I usually lay awake in bed for several hours.
Well it turns out that about my whole life I am one of the 0.15% of people who have Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. (DSPS) or Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD).
Basically, my circadian rhythm is off, like I’m on a 32 hour clock instead of 24 hour clock. 
and/or my body is not affected by light and dark in the normal way that most other plants and animals are.
I just wait until I can’t function anymore and lay down right before I pass out, so that I don’t have to try to fall asleep. 
Wow, that’s interesting. I’ve never heard of that. That must cause a lot of problems… Doesn’t sound very fun. BB are binaural beats… there’s a topic around here somewhere. They can be used for a lot of purposes, but I mostly play with them for sleep purposes.
ZRVera, I found that learning to silence your “inner voice” helps a lot. In the past I’d chant “I’m dreaming… I’m dreaming…” hoping that I’d eventually fall asleep and have a MILD. But the problem was I could never fall asleep with my mind talking. And that’s when I found out about the inner voice thingy - And now I’m actually able to go “I’m dreaming…” without actually hearing the words in my head, and I fall asleep much faster. I think this might work for you in general just trying to keep that voice from going on and on about one issue after the next.
It does cause problems with trying to have a ‘normal’ life, but I have found tricks like these past 9 months my life is not normal so I can sleep and wake when ever I want without causing too much problems. 
Oh yes, I know Binaural Beats. I’ve made some myself for self-hypnosis 
If you haven’t already checked out these two Lucid dreaming Induction ones, I suggest you do. I fell asleep quick and LD’d the first night I listened to them on a repeating play-list with head phones on.
Lucid Dreaming Induction With Theta & Delta Binaural Brainwaves
Lucid Dreaming Induction With Theta Binaural Brainwaves
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My way to solve it is to be awake for so long that I fall asleep by tiredness, but its not good if this is done too often at least this works for me if I have insomnia Well, Im aware that this isnt recommended if you have school/work next day 