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Sleeping Pills / Sleep Aids

From Wikipedia.org: Many insomniacs rely on sleeping tablets and other sedatives to get rest. All sedative drugs have the potential of causing psychological dependence where the individual cannot psychologically accept that they can sleep without drugs. Certain classes of sedatives such as benzodiazepines and newer nonbenzodiazepine drugs can also cause physical dependence which manifests in withdrawal symptoms if the drug is not carefully titrated down.

In comparing the options, a systematic review found that benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepines have similar efficacy which was not significantly more than for antidepressants. Benzodiazepines did not have a significant tendency for more adverse drug reactions.

• Melatonin

  From Wikipedia.org: Melatonin as a supplement is used as a natural aid to better sleep. Incidental benefits to health and well-being may accumulate, due to melatonin's role as an antioxidant and its stimulation of the immune system and several components of the endocrine system. Some studies suggest that smaller doses (for example 0.3 mg as opposed to 3 mg) are just as effective at improving sleep quality. Large doses of melatonin can even be counterproductive: Lewy et al provide support to the "idea that too much melatonin may spill over onto the wrong zone of the melatonin phase-response curve" (PRC). In one of their subjects, 0.5 mg of melatonin was effective while 20 mg was not.