There are two sleep related problems that people often battle and both can make your life very difficult or even dangerous when you can't achieve them. Falling asleep at night is a problem fought by millions of people a year. Whether it be from anxiety, stress or a psychological problem, not being able to fall asleep can give you anxiety in and of itself and can send you into a spiral of worrying about how to fall asleep fast, so much that it aggravates your condition.
People are constantly on the search to figure out how to fall asleep safely. Some people resort to medication while other are scared of getting addicted. While the later is a very real fear, lack of sleep can be so harmful that it may be recommended to get some short term relief so that you can think of how to deal with this long term problem. What I mean by that is, take a non-addictive, mild sleeping aid for a short period of time so that you can get some rest. During your waking hours, think about what is causing your sleeplessness and try to tackle that problem. It may be because of stress or because of something as simple as drinking caffeinated drinks too late in the day. If you can try and tackle the problem then you'll be able to get off the sleeping aids quickly.
The flip side of this issue is staying awake during the day. When you don't get a good nights sleep, for whatever reason, it is very difficult to stay awake during the day. This can cause problems to many types of people. Students for example, need to stay awake in class and need to be alert to study. If you work during the day, your boss won't think much of you if you constantly fall asleep. Some people end up drinking lots of coffee or depend on other chemical means to stay awake.
How to Fall Asleep and How to Stay Awake Are Directly Related