Curing Insomnia, Creating Boredom

I was an insomniac for many years. It was largely cured by giving up caffeine almost entirely; even though I rarely drank it close to when I went to bed, it made a significant difference in my sleep patterns. Some of this was positive (not being able to sleep is really depressing, for those who have never experienced it), some not so much (I found myself unable to function well on less than 6 hours of sleep after that), but overall I'm glad I made the switch.

One problem that didn't go away, though, was the amount of time it took me to fall asleep. Unless I was completely physically exhausted, it would take me between 20 minutes and 2 hours to fall asleep every night. After Peter was born and it was no longer guaranteed that I could sleep in or stay asleep once I got to sleep, I decided to try something I'd read that people should do: not using any electronics with screens (computer, television, etc.) for an hour before going to bed. Never being one to argue with science, this has worked wonders for me.

It has, however introduced a somewhat embarrassing third problem: I've found it very difficult to fill that hour with non-electronic activities. My only real non-electronic hobby that I can do on my own (music) doesn't really work when you've got a sleeping toddler in the house, nor do most household chores. It's too dark to do much of anything outside. I've tried doing some writing longhand, but the nerves in my wrists really act up when I do that for too long or too many consecutive days.

I've been reading more than I have in the past few years, which has been somewhat of a positive development; a few of the things I've been meaning to read for a while finally got off the shelf, though the quality of the bulk of it reminds me of why I stopped reading in the first place. I've also been able to get some cleaning around the house done, as long as it's quiet cleaning. For the time being, I also use that time for the reading assignments for my class, but that obviously won't be an option after the end of the year.

It's been somewhat enlightening to see just how bored I get when you take anything with a screen away from me, especially given that this is the first time I've been bored when left to my own reconnaissance in years. It felt a little embarrassing at first, until I realized the other big limiting factors are the dark, the need to be quiet and my wrists. (I suppose I could still play my electric guitar sparingly, but I'd run up against the same problem as writing.) I'll probably spend more time with the dart board and the pool table to try and get better at those. Anyone have any other suggestions?