My insomnia is a little different than the author's; I fall asleep easily but wake up three or four hours later. And when I'm up, I'm wide awake.
I tried just about everything discussed here....meditation, podcasts, watching television, reading before bed but nothing really helped me consistently. I even bought a treadmill and started running every day which does help, but the thing that actually did the trick best was a few puffs of marijuana about an hour before bedtime. It was sufficient to take me "out of my head" enough to get a better night's sleep without feeling foggy the next day.
One of the problems with insomnia as a construct is that it lumps a bunch of problems together that probably don't have the same mechanisms. The vast majority of insomnia treatment and advice is focused on "initial insomnia", i.e. inability to fall asleep when you first go to bed.
If it can be compatible with your schedule, try splitting your sleep into two 4 hour chunks. They dont have to be 12 hours apart. The mosy productive and energetic ive ever felt was while doing this. That being said it sounds like you already have a good system figured out. Aything that doesnt involve a prescription sleep aid is a big win
I deal with this occasionally (seems to crop up for me every couple of years depending on life circumstances). Look into sleep restriction therapy. It's been the "silver bullet" for me. You essentially limit yourself to a 5 hour sleep window every night. Once you can sleep 5 sound hours for a week you're allowed to add 30 minutes and repeat the cycle. It sucks for the first few days, but the exhaustion will eventually win out.
I tried just about everything discussed here....meditation, podcasts, watching television, reading before bed but nothing really helped me consistently. I even bought a treadmill and started running every day which does help, but the thing that actually did the trick best was a few puffs of marijuana about an hour before bedtime. It was sufficient to take me "out of my head" enough to get a better night's sleep without feeling foggy the next day.