I'm in exactly the same boat, right now.
What I usually do is take a crapload of benadryl and put on a boring movie.
Unfortunately for me, while there are certainly no shortages of boring movies, I'm fresh out of Benadryl. :(

My sleepin patterns are ****ed up, depending on how I feel I can do pretty much anything.

If I'm depressed and have nothing to do I can and will stay in bed for hours upon hours longer than needed. If I'm not, I still sleep a long time, but on the same token, If I wake up at 10pm, I will more often than not still be awake at 5AM.

If I pull a day without much sleep, then I can easily crash for 16 hours of sleep straight, and in one instance I pulled an all nighter and a half, was awake for the entirety of two long days, and managed to subsequently sleep for exactly 24 hours, and suddenly get very confused as to the date and what had actually happened.

Unfortunately with work and so on this means often I'll be working on 2 hours sleep, and whenever I do that my brain dies a death and I quite literally have trouble remembering what day of the week it is and what happened 3 hours ago. I once spent half an hour searching a classroom for my iPod, CONVINCED I'd brought it in with me, only to give up and go back home to find it on my bed. Turned out my trip home to put it on my bed hadn't happened the day before, but THAT MORNING.

i was like this, especially in grad school. i worked late (till 2am or so) and would often stay up to see the sun rise, then sleep well past noon the next day. it was debilitating.

then as soon as i hit 30, i lost the ability to sleep in. now, i literally wake up at 6:00 every morning, no matter when i go to bet. even on weekends. it's insane.

I can't lose consciousness till 3 or 4 most times,and struggle to get up before noon and feel like I'm dieing when I do.It's destroying my mind and body,and I have no idea what it stems from.

I'm not implying anything, but if you don't get a lot of exersize during the day, it can have a negative impact on your ability to fall asleep quickly and get good rest at night.
Your daily diet can also contribute to this.

:)

I know my diet and exercise habits leave a lot to be desired, but even during the summer when I was being stuffed to the gills at mealtimes and walking/playing football for an hour a day I still had huge trouble sleeping.:(

every now and again i'll lose a "good" sleeping pattern, whether it be because i pull an all nighter, or for any other reason...

if you know that you need to get up early on the next day, just do an activity that will make you tired; exercise a lot, or you know, as a last ditch effort, get drunk/high.

and also, don't eat a lot before sleeping, especially if the food contains sugar/caffeine. it just screws you over.

Uhhm. Skipped my first class. xD
Fail.
At least I handed in the essay.

Sometimes I wish there was an "off" switch that kept my brain from going 100 miles a minute when I lay down to sleep. The past few nights I've hit the sack around 11 pm and laid there until 2-3 am.

I know exactly what you mean.
It's gotten to the point sometimes that I have to wake up and write everything I'm thinking about just so I don't have to think about it anymore.
My friend always told me to just think about your breathing.
Literally tell yourself, "Inhale, Exhale, Inhale, Exhale."
It works a little bit for me if it isn't one of those nights something's really bothering me and I can't help but think about it.