I am so with you!!!! I have not been able to fall asleep on my own since I was probably 20 yrs old. I am not 42!! I take sleep meds every night. Clear your mind.....like you said has never happened never will. I wish sooooo much I could sleep on my own. Would love to lay down in the afternoon and have me a little nap. Hang in there. Best to you. Oh by the way my husband is military, my daughter, and my father was as well.

Oh I know what you mean. It is so awful. I'm up till at least 5am on a consistent basis. I'm just lucky I don't have anywhere I have to be in the mornings at the current time. So I don't try to force it that just seems to make it worse. So I'm on the computer and reading and what till about 4:30 and then I'll watch some tv and just let my body pass out when it wants.

I am not sure why you are singling out military personel. I am sure there are an equal amount of people from all walks of life who can easily fall asleep just as there are those who aren't able to.
I think you putting "ugh" after the word military gives a wrong impression that you have something against them which I am sure you don't, it is just the way you have worded the title of this thread.

My husband served 20 yrs in the military, and I have to say he can fall asleep pretty easily and snore like anything, but I don't know if that can be said for all military serving people. And I am sure some may have been prescribed something to help them sleep. But I also think it can be part of the training too, they have to work long hours, irregular schedules sometimes, and are working under stressful conditions at times, so being able to sleep easily is for survival and being able to function

You said "never will" in reference to you never will be able to clear your mind, because it hasn't happened before. With you saying this, you have set yourself up for failure, and you are basically blocking any possibility of having a relaxed mind and getting off to sleep.

Clearing the mind doesn't mean that no thoughts are there, clearing the mind can mean clearing thoughts of things that have past and thoughts speculating about the future. negative or possitive.
I know how we can think about the days events, conversations we have had with people etc..... and then we worry about the things that need doing the following day and all the rest of it.

I totally understand how difficult it is to switch it off, but it is possible. I have suffered with the 'chattering' mind myself, so what I am sharing with you is something that helps me.

It is helpful to just focus on the present moment, so if you are laying down, then focus on your body layiing down, your head on the pillow, your body on the mattress, feeling it beneath you, And focus on a phrase or a word, by focusing on one word or a phrase and repeating it to yourself, in doing that, it is clearing out the mind and enabling it to 'rest' from the endless and aimless chatter that we can so often have. So try it the next time, choose a word like 'peace' or "relax" or "restful sleep" and just say it gently to yourself, breathing steadily, as you inhale in, say the word in your mind, and then exhale saying "release" in your mind and allow negative feelings and thoughts of the day go as you say release, and then inhale and say your word eg. peace, and just repeat it, notice your breath, allow your abdomen gently rise and fall, if thoughts intrude, gently guide your mind back to the word or phrase that you have chosen, don't chastise yourself if your mind wonders off,
just continue going back to the word and breathing.
you could also try a sound machine that has white noise on it, those are helpful.
have a relaxing bath prior to bedtime, add relaxing lavender oil.
Perhaps reading for a short while before bedtime, I know that works for many.

My leg twitches a lot. I quit the ambien when I was told I was scrambling eggs at 3 in the morning. Good luck and I sympathize.

naturegirl....Come on sweetie! She DID NOT MEAN ANYTHING BY HER COMMENT! I am married to a man that is ex-army and he ALWAYS tells me, I can fall asleep so quickly because the army taught me how to do that!

For those of us that can't sleep and cannot clear our mind or stop the racing thoughts....it is HARD! Why would putting "Urgh" in her title would that offend you? That is just stupid. I think very unsupportive. If you read her entire post, you would have understood.

Pogo, said she has been brought up in a military home all her life so how could she possibly be anti-military? I for one, totally got her post and totally understood it!

It had NOTHING TO DO with anything anti-military and I think you should apoligize to her for being so rude. People read way too much into things when if they just opened their hearts to be supportive, you would have never made this post YOU MADE!

That is like somebody posting..."URGH the damn military" and then write about how much they miss their husbands that are overseas. Would that have offended you? Probably not or at least I would hope not!

Lighten up naturegirl, Please! When we have anxiety and problems sleeping it makes life really hard...the last thing any of us need is somebody slamming them for a post they made!

Totally agree with dazedanco she didnt mean anything by it then to get a rant out of somebody, just really mean. My husband is military sleeps like a log, my father was military couldnt sleep at all from paranoia and PTSD, daughter is military can sleep sitting up!!! She is only speaking from her own frame of reference and that happens to be military!

my boyfriend falls asleep instantly. he'll say,"i'm tired." and be asleep at the end of the sentence. sometimes i fall asleep in 20 min or so. it used to be a lot worse before i started meditating. i only slept a few hours a night. now i sleep pretty well.

I was just having this exact conversation with my Marine husband like last night or the night before. He really does fall asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. I told him that people who get enough sleep should take up to a half hour to fall asleep and if you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow then you are not getting enough sleep. I read that somewhere recently since I don't get enough sleep AND I have anxiety. I think that this theory doesn't apply to people with anxiety. We're in class all to ourselves. But I do think that people in the military are conditioned to fall asleep fast, and anywhere.