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@cernan
I used to suffer pretty badly from very poor sleeping patterns caused by a severe lack of routine whilst working on my phd. I would go for days without sleep until the point physical effects put me out of action for a couple of days to recover, hallucinating whilst working with radiation seems to be frowned on by the HSE! But the following things eventually really helped me:
Altering my sleeping environment. The room in which i sleep now contains nothing but a radio a lamp and a bed. Nothing else. I don't even get dressed/undressed in that room. Straight in, straight under the covers, straight to sleep.
Meditation. I was initially horrified when this was recommended due to unhealthy connections to poi, bongos and unwashed hippies that nestled in my mind but learning some simple techniques has been really benificial for both sleeping and general concentration. A good breathing technique i use regularly is to breathe in through the nose for 6 beats and out through the mouth for 4 beats whilst focussing on using your diaphram rather than your shoulders to breathe and literally focussing on nothing but this. very calming and satisfying. and/or picking a decent square object in the room, door frame/window/mirror etc and running your eyes around the outer edge of the object, breathing in for the first two edges and out for the second pair of edges. Again good for concentration/relaxing and helpful if you have anxiety/panic issues. I think my slightly obssesive personality aids using these techniques.
Baths with lavender oil. Whilst making you smell like an old woman a good hot tub plus concentrated lavender oil is more effective than a cosh to the head for achieving unconciousness. for me anyway!
and the biggie:
ROUTINE: get into one as much as you hate it, its worth it. Stick to it in the beginning and introduce the flexibility as sleeping improves. Pick a time to go to bed and a time to get up. Stick to it and your body rapidly adapts. I despised doing this to start with, but doing it now, with sufficient flexibilty to not feel like some sort of organic robot, means i dive under the covers at 1am and am sleeping in minutes. I wake up before the alarm at 6.45 leap out of bed, double fist punch reality in the throat and balls before leaping astride my bike and cycling a round about route to work kicking cars out of my way. Leave one morning a week for a lie in to no later than 10am, just cos it feels sexy.
disclaimer: I have never been a true insomniac, just suffered from brutal sleeping patterns but the above trinkets of information helped me.
eyebrows: I feel for you. I used to run time course infection experiments that required tending to every 12 hours for a 5 day period at a time. Scientific brutality at its best.
sleep well all.