Can't sleep :(

[Lab03]

Since my latest bouts of anxiety seem to happen at night, I'm mostly ok during the day up until the point where I go to bed, regardless of time or how tired I am I start getting assorted symptoms until I have to get up again - I feel this is becoming a self-perpetuating habit of being anxious just over expectation of anxiety - rrrrgh - does anyone have any strategies for sleeping? Having difficulties now :(

[ls]

I have anxiety at bedtime too. I lay still and make sure I am warm. I take deep slow breathes and try to get all the thoughts out of my head. I repeat to myself that this is "my time now to rest and there is nothing that I can fix right now".
Remember your problems will be there for you in the morning. Allow yourself to rest at night....keep telling yourself that this is YOUR time.
Baths and tea might help as well. How about writing in a diary or reading???? If you have a partner, a backrub can help.

I wish you better rest. ;)

[cagekickr]

I find covering my face with blankets helps me calm down. It sounds stupid, but it's kind of like breathing into a paper bag. It reduces the amount of oxygen and helps to slow the heart down by recycling the carbon dioxide. I have grown accustomed to the comforting smell of my blanket and can doze off if my face is buried in it.

[Lab03]

Got to sleep very quickly yesterday (under half an hour I reckon), I took some advice from previous posts (thanks very much btw :)) plus looked up some stuff about insomnia: http://www.well.com/user/mick/insomnia/ and http://www.umm.edu/sleep/sleep_hyg.html both have a lot of info.
A lot of this makes sense and is worth trying it seems.
Technique yesterday was to go out for a long walk during the day, avoid alcohol/caffeine/sugary & fatty foods, eat loads of lettuce in a salad for dinner (apparently contains lactucarium, a sleep promoter), plus a couple of cups of warm milk over the evening (contains calcium & magnesium, which apparently help sleep, but does anyone know why warm milk is better for this than cold?) Once again thanks for advice and hope this info is of use if you didn't know about it already :)