White Noise for Insomnia: what works for you?

After being subjected to pictures of my puffy eyes and half-asleep stare for almost five months now, it won't shock you to hear that I have chronic insomnia - which is basically is the term given to your average insomnia when it persists for more than a few months.

I've had it since I was about twelve, though I was only diagnosed at fourteen and it has left for short periods of time. My issues are difficulty falling asleep at the beginning of the night and difficulty getting back to sleep if I wake up in the small hours. I've gotten into bed at night and lay there, wide awake, until it's been time to get up and go about my business for the day, just trying to get through it and hoping I sleep the next night. I don't want to be self-indulgent, but insomnia is a bigger pain in the hoop than most people realise.

I have very few methods to help me doze off, nothing really does wonders for me because I decided not to go on sleeping tablets.

My top and only tip is white noise. It's a dream for sufferers. I love hair-dryers, hoovers and washing machines. No, I'm not expecting anybody to leave their appliances on all night; Youtube have videos of these sounds on twelve-hour loops. I sometimes get an old radio and turn it to that fuzzy in-between-stations sound which I really like too.

If you have any tried and true methods of getting forty winks then do share them! Who knows, we might all get to sleep before the sun rises tonight!