I would boil down the strategies to deal with sleep problems (in my case staying asleep) to these three:
1) Good sleep hygiene
2) Control your environment
3) Drug assistance
For myself, I have been trying very hard to develop and maintain good sleep hygiene habits such as not taking naps, not lying in bed unless sleeping, not watching TV in bed, having a regular bedtime (this one's tough), and so forth. Although I can't say for sure this is helping, I know it is not hurting my overall goal of a better sleep.
As for environmental control, the temperature is lowered at night, the bed and pillow are comfortable, the room is dark and the house is normally pretty quiet (unless the wind comes roaring in and makes such a racket I need to relocate to the leeward side of the house :-) ). Again, mixed results as I have always done this though my efforts must be helping.
As for drug assistance, I did seek assistance from my doctor and have been trying a prescription which I believe, combined with the other two strategies, is helping me stay asleep more than I have in the past.
I am hoping that continuing to adjust my application of the above three strategies will improve the quality of my sleep in the long run. That is something I dream about.... :-)
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