I'm the exact same way. I'm 17 as well and usually take Tylenol PM every single night because if I don't, it takes me like an hour to fall asleep. It's best not to take over the counter sleep aids every night as you can grow dependant (too late for me). So talk to a doctor and get a prescription that doesn't have the risk of dependancy.

I have taken ambien in the past and found that it works well to get you to sleep it is a non dependant drug so it should help you out. Talk to your doctor about your problem and see what he says

take tylonol PM

lol
hope it works

you could also try focusing more on something of interest other than actually falling asleep i have always found myself making it harder to fall asleep by focusing on when i will fall asleep if that makes sense

I used to find it hard to sleep when i was around 13-16 too

Now at 21, ive just found out the experiences ive been having since jan this year is sleep paralysis................. freaks me out a bit