First of all, I'm blessed with fabulous sleeping genes. When I want to sleep, I sleep. It usually takes me just a few minutes to fall asleep.
Everywhere, everytime and under many different conditions. And I also don't wake up easily at night too, so I make long nights (when I go to bed early that is).
But this doesn't help you at all.
I guess you might have received quite a lot of these tips already, but maybe they can be of some use.
There are a couple of things that you better stop doing a couple hours before going to bed.
Eating, drinking coffee or alcohol and screens. So unfortunately no laptops, phones and tablets. You could also turn a blue light filter on when you do want to use your screens late at night.
As you mention exercising could really help. You don't have to run a marathon. Walking a couple of miles a day already can do the trick. Be sure to go outside and preferably in a natural environment. Don't use your phone and don't put any music on.
I read a nice quote once that said: Walk at least 1/2 hour a day in a natural environment. Unless you have a very busy or stressful day, then go for an hour!
Try to empty your mind at the end of the day. That means no more information. Have you already tried meditating? It can make you focus on your breathing which helps not to think about other things.
For me reading a book in the evening also helps.
You 'just' need to create some new healthy habits. It takes about 20 days for a new habit to stick around.
I hope these tips are useful for you 😊
Haha I used to know someone who could sleep almost instantly by command, such a super power. I do sleep quite deep too and don't wake up easily by noise/things, it's like my ears get blocked while sleeping, they turn annoying sound into muffled sound :D
Why no music? unfortunately there's limited "natural environment" to walk in here, or you can't really walk to such locations.
Yeah, might try and make it a thing where I post about attempting to create new habits here soon and document how I fail at it. xD
That's good. You do get more hours of sleep that way.
The less stimuli the better!
Nature is everywhere. It can also be just a small park. It is proven that even a little bit of green does good.
Make sure you don't put the bar too high. You can better set a low, but achievable goal to create a habit. Making a walk 10 minutes walk every day should be achievable. You'll see that in reality you will often walk longer than that.
Blogging or snapping about your goals might help too. Go for it!