What are good ways to fall asleep?

I read the question“How much sleep do you need to function productively?” the average answer was between 3–9 hours(I assume per night) my question is how do you “fall” asleep? are there certain routines that you do? do you drink certain things?
I only ask this because the only way I can sleep is if I take the pills the Doctor gives me(and when I take them I get extremely vivid horrific dreams) on a average week I usually get 6–8 hours of sleep. I am looking to change that to on a average night, so I am looking for any help with that.