7. Use guided imagery.
Guided imagery is similar to meditation in the sense that it distracts you and forces you to center your attention. You may find this preferable to meditation, since it relies more heavily on narration.
8. Try progressive muscle relaxation.
Start by concentrating on your toes, and focus on relaxing every muscle in them. Next, focus on your feet; relax every muscle in them. Work your way up through your ankles, calves, thighs, and so on up your body, including your face and forehead. Don’t move on from one body part until you achieve relaxation in that body part.
Take your time; there’s no need to rush through this process. The waves of stress relief you feel in this process are hard to beat.
This technique is used in the U.S. military, where 96% of fighter pilots found it helpful to fall asleep within 2 minutes—even within combat zones.