This is my now standard post about what I have found to help my sleep:
My sleep used to be like this: lose consciousness, toss and turn all night (intermittent consciousness), wake up feeling like nothing happened during the night. It was about as effective as closing my eyes and opening them again. No sense of time having passed, no sense of having slept, no dreams, just more of feeling exactly the same as when I went to bed. In my case I had no idea how bad my 'sleep' had become because the problems crept up on me.
I've never tried pharmaceuticals for sleep, partly because I react so strongly to medications. After a lot of experimentation I've found a mixture of things that help me get a much better night of sleep:
1) Inclined bed (head of the bed inclined by 6 inches.) I was surprised at how much this helped my sleep. It also helps to prevent nocturnal urination.
2) Memory foam bed - the soft kind. A soft memory foam bed helps to reduce how often I wake up to change position. And, because I'm bedbound so much of the day, a comfortable bed is very important.
3) Blocking out light for a dark sleeping environment.
4) LDN: possibly the biggest aid to sleep although it disturbed my sleep while I was adjusting to it.
5) Time release melatonin, (Natrol) 1mg. Regular melatonin doesn't keep me asleep, but long acting does.
6) Nighty Night Tea with valerian
7) L-Tyrosine before bed
8) Magnesium before bed
9) Iodine - at least 12mg/day
10) Oatmeal before bed - provides a small meal to help with taking my bedtime supplements (they're easier to swallow with food), helps keep blood sugar up during the night, and helps to release serotonin for better sleep.
11) Ear plugs - I'm a very light sleeper so ear plugs help to block out unexpected noise that could wake me.
12) Not over-exerting - difficulty sleeping is a sign that I have pushed too much. If I stay within my energy envelope and don't over-exert then I usually sleep better.
Each of these contributes a little to better sleep, but all of them together add up to a decent night. I can go to sleep fairly easily, and when I wake during the night I feel a little groggy and can usually go back to sleep easily. I still wake to change position at least six times per night but go right back to sleep. In the morning I feel like I've slept and sometimes have a pleasant 'I just want to lie here for awhile' feeling that was missing for almost a decade before I arrived at my current sleep cocktail.