Try playing tv or radio in s different language. There’s still the sound but you don’t get sucked in.

i’ve had similar issues with sleeping myself, and i’ve found oftentimes having something playing in the background will help. Literally anything for my brain to focus on without expending so much energy i’m focusing directly on it. White noise might help, i’ve found rain and thunderstorms particularly good for that itch. I used to watch yt to fall asleep, and still do on occasion, but that doesn’t seem to work as well anymore.

Lately i’ve been pulling up a yt video and trying to doze off about when it ends, and that seems to work pretty well.

when i’m not doing a variant of that i’m usually doing some sort of pseudo meditation where i actively focus on nothing. That works if i can keep at it. That or not sleeping at all, because my shits fucked up lol.

I struggled with insomnia a lot.

Podcasts and audiobooks helped me immensely. I have wireless headphones but I don’t “wear” them, I just rest them on top of whichever ear. I turn the volume down to a level where I need to concentrate to hear the words. It’s exceedingly rare that it takes me more than 15 minutes to fall asleep these days. Staying asleep is another story though.

keep your eyes open in the dark; do all the things that trigger your master and tissue specific circadian rhythm like cooler temp, no food before bed, no blue light for hours before bed; blah blah blah