Sleep drugs can help people fall asleep faster or return to sleep if they wake up in the middle of the night, but the benefits are usually modest, says Daniel Buysse, M.D., UPMC professor of sleep medicine and professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. One thing all these medications have in common: limited benefits. See “ A Quick Guide to Sleeping Pills,” below, for more information on different sleep drugs. Although the Food and Drug Administration has not approved trazodone for insomnia, doctors can legally prescribe a drug for any reason they see fit. The newest type of prescription sleep drugs, ramelteon (Rozerem) and suvorexant (Belsomra), affects brain chemicals that regulate the sleep-wake cycle.ĭoctors also sometimes treat sleeplessness with an older type of antidepressant-most commonly trazodone-because it also has sleepiness as a side effect. But they do so more selectively, which is thought to reduce some of the side effects, such as lingering grogginess and the risk of becoming dependent.
The next generation of medications, the so-called Z drugs, including eszopiclone (Lunesta and generic), zaleplon (Sonata and generic), and zolpidem (Ambien, Edluar, Intermezzo, Zolpimist, and generic), target the same brain receptors. The oldest type is anti-anxiety drugs, such as temazepam (Restoril and generic) and triazolam (Halcion and generic), from a class of medications called benzodiazepines, or “benzos.” These drugs make you feel drowsy or sedated by slowing activity of the brain and central nervous system.
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Here’s what you need to know about the benefits and risks of the drugs, the situations when taking them makes the most sense, and how to use them safely.ĭifferent types of sleep medications affect the brain and body in different ways.Īll OTC sleep drugs rely on older antihistamines-diphenhydramine (Sominex, ZzzQuil, and generic) or doxylamine (Unisom SleepTabs and generic)-which have drowsiness as a side effect.Ī wider variety of sleep medications are available by prescription. What’s more, our survey found that about 40 percent of people who take sleep aids use the drugs in potentially harmful ways-by, for example, taking them more often or longer than recommended, or combining them with other medications or alcohol.
Plus, some of the most commonly used drugs, notably OTC sleeping pills, should never be used long-term, and have little published research backing up even their short-term use, Sateia says.Īnd all sleep medications-including OTC products-have important and often underappreciated risks. “In terms of improvement of total sleep time, the benefits of sleep medications are pretty modest,” says Michael Sateia, M.D., emeritus professor of psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
Three percent admitted to dozing off while driving.Īmong the most common reasons Americans gave for taking a sleep drug is that they thought it would work better than other approaches.īut drugs aren’t the cure-all many people expect. And they often don’t wake refreshed: Nearly 6 out of 10 people taking sleep medications reported side effects such as feeling drowsy, confused, or forgetful the next day.
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