Prescription Sleep Drugs: What You Need to Know Now

Sleep medicines may provide rapid relief of the symptoms of insomnia. But many of these medicines have side effects, such as low blood pressure, anxiety, and nausea. These medicines also may become less effective when your body gets used to the them. And some have not been shown to be effective for long-term treatment of insomnia.

• Hypnotic medications help you fall asleep or stay asleep.
• Antidepressants that have a calming or sedative effect can be used to aid sleep.
• Rozerem is a different type of sleep medicine that helps regulate your body's internal clock. Rozerem has few side effects and is not habit-forming.

If you are taking any of these medications, it's usually best if you take them only for a short time, at the lowest effective dose, and stop taking them as soon as you can. This is true for all people, but it is particularly true for older adults, who can become dependent on sleep enhancers and sometimes experience diminished thinking capability during and after long-term sleeping medication use.

The most successful long-term treatment results have been achieved with behavior therapy. Behavior therapy results in similar improvements in both overall sleep quality and less time in getting to sleep compared to using medications, without any side effects. Many people receiving such therapy benefit from the treatments and become good sleepers. Perhaps most important, these results are maintained over time.