I had similar issues on an off until about four years ago. I met someone that showed me basic meditation breathing techniques without any dogma. I stuck with it because nothing else was working. His site is countingbreaths.com You can give it a try. Also it may help to talk to someone and maybe write the thoughts down then throw them out or burn them if they get to overwhelming.

I read fantasy books, very well written complex ones.
My mind knows they are fantasy, it allows me to wind down and think about things that are not real, then I am able to sleep.

Yeah..especially when I have an appointment with my E.N.T or Radoncologist..my anxiety goes waaaay up.

Constantly, but I've found that it rarely helps the situation

Why yes I do.

Have you tried meditation? Some forms of meditation have you not only concentrating on relaxing your body, in a rhytmic pattern, but also repeating a litany, which can help to smother other thoughts and eventually quiet down to sleep.

This is from my past as a youth, and no, I don't have any books to suggest right off the top of my head. I can research, and will if you wish, then again so can you. What I can't do, is know what will 'sing' to you best. Just shop around and do some skimming and something will 'stick' and that will mean to go with it, give it a try.

Hope this helps.

No....maybe....I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it.

I used to over analyze until I realized nothing is cut and dry, black or white. Everything is grey, imperminant, maliable and subject to change, so why try to pigeon hole and define everyting.
I have a few drinks to help me sleep (not advocating that). To clear my mind, either music (headphones help) or the old Transcendental Meditation...Ommmmmmmm, Ommmmmmmm. Just close your eyes, relax, concentrate on your breathing and the sound of your voice only. Ommmmmmm.

Oh yes, over think to the point of pain. Routinely awake until 3 AM, hang out in the Insomniacs group regularly. Big part of my problem is a circadian rhythm issue, my body clock runs 3-4 hours behind "normal". By 3 AM it will drop my temp and I will start getting tired.

When I'm trying to push sleep, reading is my go to tool. For decades, I've read almost every night after getting into bed. After getting as comfortable as possible, winter time that means electric blanket is warm, feet on the way to being warm. Reading material, fiction, I prefer mysteries or thrillers, humor or light nonfiction. Nothing that will add to an already over stimulated mental state. I do read on my Kindle these days, set to night filters but I figures out that I must disconnect from the internet, no news, no Facebook.

Everyone is different and sleep problems are different for each of us but this is what works for me. The comfy reading time helps me relax and shift my thinking/analysis to stress free entertainment, relieving me of thoughts about the state of the country/world or my life stresses. Good luck to you!

My problem is similar but not nearly as severe. Most night survive on 4 to 5 hours of sleep some less seldom more. What I'm trying to do is focus on the most pleasant memory or thought as long as it is a calm but very pleasant situation. It works for me can't say if it would work for anybody else

Sorry I'm in the boat with you. I mostly just open three or four apps and keep busy between them until it bores me. Hope some other tips help you

My technique for getting to sleep is a bit unusual, but it works for me... the most boring thing in the entire world is local MOR radio stations. So, I imagine I'm a boring, insipid DJ on such a station. I start off with a jingle (my radio station is called PRS-1 for some reason), then play some boring MOR song, then blabber on a bit like boring, insipid DJs do on local MOR stations, have a couple of adverts, play another boring MOR song and so on. I very, very rarely make it to a third song without falling asleep.

I always do so leave the tv on

I've heard that it's best to get out of bed and go do something if you just can't sleep. The thought is that if you associate your bed only with sleep, then as soon as you crawl in--you'll be able to hit the hay. If you lounge around in it instead of going to sleep or getting up, your brain and body does not associate it with just sleep, which can continue to cause issues with sleeping.

I was told long ago in my College Days by many intellectuals that I "See Too Much" I have an excellent problematic and am hypersensitive. Did I ever latch onto any of it. I was walking a tight rope trying to pay for my "away from home" experience at a University that I was enable to secure with a student loan and the GI Bill and working three jobs in the summer. My Dad passed two weeks before I was drafted into the Army but he made me promise him before he passed that I would go and complete my College and that by going away was the only way that I could fully grasp the being there 24/7. I transferred from a Community College and had to start all over which was another episode that made it all the more enjoyable. Does get knocked down 5 times, get up 6 come into play here. It was a totally different education from those who went to the same school for 4 years, and I think I learned twice as much as they did, but then again I was a Veteran and wasn't into picking the berries, or what concert was I thinking about next. I came to terms with what its all about and I made every second everything I could for all that I could.

When you feel like you have a jabbering monkey on your shoulder and you want it to shut up but it won't a stronger SSRI might help more than trazodone

Can you define 'over' ?

...wait....let me think about this.....

Idk if anyone suggested this- a hot shower before bed. I just took a long, hot shower. My muscles are not tense anymore and I'm so relaxed and I'm ready for sleep.