I once read that it takes the average person approximately seven minutes to fall asleep when going to bed.
I envy them.
My entire life, I have not been able to fall asleep in less than an hour. My mind rattles on endlessly while I lie in bed, and I probably never "fall asleep" per se - I just pass out.
Most people seem to have this gift of clearing their mind of thoughts. I am not able to do such a thing. To keep my head clear would take an enormous amount of effort on my part, and that effort would keep me awake longer than if I just yield to sleep when it decides to come. Unfortunately, I have to deal with an hour (sometimes longer!) of staring at the clock, the ceiling, the wall, changing positions, flipping the pillow, rolling the pillow, etc.
It seems that ever since I moved to Atlanta, I haven't been sleeping well. I don't feel rested when I wake up, nor do I ever sleep soundly. I wake up constantly during the night, and find myself fighting to stay asleep. It sucks.
A lot of people would say "Quit your bitching and take a Unisom or something." I am one of those who believes that medication for every little thing is stupid, and that diseases created for convenience are pointless. I do eventually fall asleep, it just takes a long time. I don't need a pill to get me there.
I'm sure a doctor would be thrilled to diagnose me with some sort of sleep disorder and prescribe some weird medication for me to take. That's a bunch of crap. I just want to be able to fall asleep in seven minutes. Other people do it without medication, so why should I have to pop pills to do it?