What actually helped you fall asleep faster? (Not "no screens", I have kids)

I lie down exhausted and my brain starts a podcast. Everything online says no screens, no caffeine after noon, a cold dark room. I have two children under five; give me things that work in a real house.

Things clients report actually stick, in a real house:

• Same wake-up time every day, kids or not. It anchors the whole clock, and it is the one lever you control. Bedtime follows on its own within a couple of weeks.
• Get outside within an hour of waking, even ten minutes. Morning light sets the timer that makes you sleepy at night.
• Move during the day, but finish hard exercise two or three hours before bed. A walk after dinner is fine and helps.
• Write the list down. The podcast in your head is mostly your brain trying not to forget things. Two minutes with a notebook before bed unloads it.
• If you are still awake after twenty minutes, get up, do something dull in dim light, come back when sleepy. Lying there teaches your brain that bed is where you worry.
• Keep the bedroom cooler than the rest of the flat if you can; it does more than the darkness.

Caffeine is still worth cutting after early afternoon, and the screen advice is really about bright light and stimulation, so a dim phone with a boring book is not the crime it is made out to be.

One medical note: if you snore, wake up with headaches, or are tired no matter how long you sleep, ask your doctor about a sleep study. Sleep apnoea hides behind "I am just bad at sleeping" far more often than people think.