I've had trouble sleeping my entire adult life. I think it's a result of all the weird shift-work I did in the military and LE jobs.

The recipe that works for me is: about 1/2 hour to 45 mins before I go to bed I brew a cup of Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Extra (with 25mg Valerian) and I take 2 Benadryl. BAM! Out like a dead man. I do the tea thing almost every night. I only resort to the Benadryl if I don't feel like sleep will come easily.

I like the tea...kinda like the coffee ritual in the morning. And the Benadryl (aka: Uncle Ben...my wife, the nurse, says they use it a lot in the hospital) is about as benign as you can get...though again, it's not an every night thing.

Probably helps that I get up at 0400 and my job kicks my ass as it's very physically demanding, too.