I was a computer design engineer....basically programmed the hardware using microcoding (lol....not so far back that I programmed in 1's & 0's but almost). Started my career in 1979.

I know exactly what you are talking about...my mind would never shut off especially when we had a problem we were solving (I mostly programmed military communications hardware systems)....& we would get thick documents describing what we needed to design & program to get the hardware to work......I would go over those documents to much that I could tell them page & paragraph of everything I was designing....but it took lots of sleepless nights....most of the time I would work until 2am. I would be so exhausted I fell asleep driving home more than once....& would be so exhausted by the time I got home I would just fall into bed & wake up whenever I could in the morning & do it all over again the next day....10-12 hour days were my norm.....but I also played racquetball with the guys I worked with at lunch rather than eat....I think that helped me become more tired by the end of the day.....but most of the time I would solve problems in my sleep.....but there were times when the mind wouldn't shut off......I still have that problem & haven't worked for 20 years.

Most of the time now, the sleepless stuff comes from having nightmares from things I have gone through....to avoid the nightmares, subconscious seems to keep me awake until I'm ready to just collapse.

Honestly, the best thing for me is to totally shut down everything in the house, take a hot shower, drink some sleeptime tea or take an over the counter sleep aid (melatonin based supplement).....pain specialist gave me a sleep med but hated the drunk feeling I had the next day even though I wasn't doing anything critical.

I know one thing.....after this oral surgery I had a month ago.....the anesthetic has made me so tired.....I sleep most of the time now...even naps during the day...can't seem to get enough sleep....that goes in cycles though...I push myself when I'm trying to get something done & the sun may be coming up by the time I get finished doing what I was trying to get done.....then I crash big time.