My "I don't have to run" day

Sorry about that title...it's just that I'm answering Manic Monday. Today's questions have to do with sleep.

Do you have a regular bedtime routine that helps you get to sleep? No, not really. The last thing I do before I go to bed every night is tuck The Youngster back under her covers. But that doesn't exactly help me go to sleep. To be honest, I never have trouble getting to sleep. I'm always so tired when I go to bed that there's really no problem.

On average, how many hours of sleep do you get each night? Five to six. Somethimes seven if I'm lucky.

How many hours do you actually require and/or like to have? As many as possible. The real problem is that once I'm awake...I'm awake. I don't have trouble falling asleep, but I sometimes have trouble getting *back* to sleep.

How do you deal with insomnia? Like I said, I have no problem falling asleep. Usually. Very, very rarely, I'll lay awake for a while. I taught myself how to fall asleep in college. I guess it's a sort of self-hypnosis, I'm not sure. Basically, I imagine myself counting grains of sand on a beach, in as great an amount of detail as possible. I take each grain and inspect it. I suppose it's sort of like counting sheep. I used to have to talk myself through every step and hold the images associated with each step in my head; then I was able to shorthand it: "beach," "pail," "shovel," "sand," and so on. Now it's automatic. I can fall asleep anywhere.