There are dozens of various sleeping pills, prescribed to treat insomnia. Therefore, it is quite difficult to choose a certain type of sleeping pills. When choosing sleeping pills, it should be taken into account how quickly a person falls asleep, how early he wakes up, and whether frequent night awakenings worry him.
If a person is satisfied with the quality of sleep but sometimes it is difficult to fall asleep, over the counter sleeping pills can be used to restore a normal sleep regimen. Almost all OTC sleeping pills have a short-acting hypnotic action, the duration of which does not exceed 3-4 hours.
Doxylamine is the most prescribed OTC sleeping pills. In the USA and Canada these sleeping pills are more known under the trademark Unisom. The advantage of Unisom sleeping pills is that they can be used in children over 12 years and even pregnant women. Given that Unisom slimming pills have a short-acting hypnotic effect, they can be prescribed to treat only mild to moderate insomnia.
Despite the fact that Unisom sleeping pills are available for sale over the counter, there are dozens of contraindications to their use. So, before to start taking OTC sleeping pills, it is necessary to carefully learn the information about the features of their pharmacological properties.
If Unisom or any other OTC sleeping pills are contraindicated, herbal sleeping pills can be used as an alternative. For example, popular in the USA herbal sleeping pills SleePwell contain only natural remedies, such as: Valeriana Wallichi, Nardostchya Jatamanshi, Hyoscyamus Niger, Ferula Narthex, Piper Longum Root, Withania Somnifera.
Advantage of herbal sleeping pills is that they have no contraindications and they do not cause side effects. The main disadvantage of herbal sleeping pills is a weak hypnotic effect. It’s fair to say that many herbal sleeping pills, containing natural ingredients has not only hypnotic but also antianxiety effect.
For the treatment of severe insomnia, other types of sleeping pills are prescribed that can have not only a powerful hypnotic action, but also a sedative and (or) antianxiety effect. Alprazolam and Zolpidem are such sleeping pills. In most world countries Alprazolam sleeping pills are better known under trademark Xanax, and Zolpidem pills – under trademark Ambien.
A distinctive feature of Xanax (Alprazolam) sleeping pills is that they provide a pronounced antianxiety and anticonvulsant effect. So, these sleeping pills are advisable to prescribe for people who have anxiety disorder, associated with muscle convulsions to reduce the number of night awakenings and to improve the quality of night sleep.
In contrast to Xanax (Alprazolam), Ambien (Zolpidem) sleeping pills have a weak antianxiety action. However, their absolute advantage is that a person is able to fall asleep almost instantly after their oral use. That is why, Ambien (Zolpidem) sleeping pills should be taken being in the bed.
Xanax and Ambien sleeping pills can be prescribed only for short-term treatment of insomnia. Duration of using these diet pills should not exceed 4 weeks. If Ambien or Xanax sleeping pills are used more than 4 weeks in a row, they no longer have the desired hypnotic effect. Therefore, their use becomes inexpedient.
It is noteworthy that there are sleeping pills that can be prescribed only to a certain group of patients. For example, Melatonin sleeping pills are prescribed to treat insomnia only in people over 55 years. Advisability of using Melatonin sleeping pills in this age is caused by the fact that the synthesis of endogenous Melatonin decreases in the people’s body over 55 years. Melatonin is the main hormone, involved in the regulation of circadian rhythm.