I've tried this trick as well before, but it does not work all the time for me. Maybe I am just not disciplined enough in refocusing my attention to breathing.

I've tried this trick as well before, but it does not work all the time for me. Maybe I am just not disciplined enough in refocusing my attention to breathing. I discovered this trick when I was reading "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" where parts of the book teaches about proper meditation. I already have sleeping problems before, as I like to be occupied with something before going to bed at 11 or 12 pm. Normally, I would either program, write a blog or a chapter, or read an interesting book that I have been putting off for a while. My problem then was sleeping for only 6 hours, and I wanted to sleep 7.5 ~ 8 hours. So I decided to switch it, by sleeping earlier (8 am) and doing these other things after I wake up at 4 am. This only worsened, as now I am having issues falling asleep. Tricks that I tried that worked only initially were counting, listening to music, having a hot shower, meditation, etc. The first time I tried counting, I fell asleep before the count of 10, but on the second night, I was still awake past 30 and getting worried as it getting higher and higher and I am not asleep yet. So I changed it on the third night by repeating "one" until I fall asleep. That worked, but the following night, it was not as effective, as my thoughts just drifted on what happened during the day. I've tried listening to music. Norah Jones' songs really worked for me for a few nights, but afterwards, the songs became a distraction, as I am now just listening to them and waiting for sleep to fall for hours. I've tried to clear my head of racing thoughts, but after the thoughts are gone, I hear something like bubbles popping inside my head, which carry on endlessly and keeps me awake. Same with taking hot showers. Later on I learned that my sleep problems is due to timing, since starting sleep at 8pm is within the "forbidden zone". It also does not help that my gym time is from 5 PM to 7 PM and have dinner afterwards. I've move my bed time to 9 ~ 10 PM but my sleeping problems persisted. I think it has now become akin to performance anxiety. I've tried 4-7-8 technique last night, but I find myself gasping for breath trying to hold it for 7 counts, plus the swooshing sound on 8 counts is too distracting when I exhale. I am still looking for a technique that will work every time. I think I should have a log of my sleeping habits and what worked and what didn't and what things I did preceding the sleep. I'm considering purchasing a sleep tracker like Dreem just to automate sleep quality logging, and see if I could come up with something that works for me.