Growing up I had developed a habit of keeping my fingers in my ears to shut out noise in order to sleep. And side sleepping.

Then growing up, I observed my brain was in overdrive. This was circa 2010 and I would spend 7-9 hours online everyday.

I would conjure up things to discuss in my brain and that would consume good chunk of my sleep time and render me tired in mornings.

So, I set out to do the impossible.

I trained myself to shut off my mind. Not think, not to imagine, not to go off on a tangent and build imaginary stories.

That helped a lot.

I am able to fall asleep in 20-30 seconds now thanks to this.

Also, about 7-8 years ago I started listening to audiobooks (thanks MaM) and I found a nice quirk. I am able to follow a story (if I want to) as long as I can actively listen every word. If I start skupping, I will fall asleep.

I found the 20-30 seconds time after recording a start time for a boring book, then listening to the book and trying to fall asleep and next day see how much I can remember. If I do, means I was awake. That gave me an average 20-30 seconds for really boring stuff.

Same for when I am not listening to audiobooks. That time I have to be extra careful and not think.