Types of Insomnia Treatment
Behavioral therapies
Behavioral insomnia treatments teach you new sleep behaviors and ways to make your sleeping environment more conducive to sleep. Some studies have shown behavioral therapies are equally or more effective than sleep medications. They can also be used in combination with prescription sleeping medications.
Medications
Taking prescription sleeping pills, such as zolpidem (Ambien), eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata) or ramelteon (Rozerem), until there’s less stress in your life may help you get to sleep until you notice benefits from behavioral insomnia treatments. Ramelteon is the newest sleep medication, and it doesn’t appear to have the same risk of dependency and rebound insomnia that the other sleep medications do. However, all of these medications may cause severe allergic reaction, facial swelling and complex sleep-related behaviors such as sleep-driving and preparing and eating food while asleep.
Doctors generally don’t recommend relying on prescription sleeping pills for more than a few days because they may cause side effects, and developing your ability to sleep without the help of medication is the goal. In addition, sleeping pills can, rarely, be habit-forming and become less effective after a while.
The antidepressant trazodone (Desyrel) also be an effective insomnia treatment. Over-the-counter sleep aids contain antihistamines that can induce drowsiness. They’re OK for occasional sleepless nights, but they, too, often lose their effectiveness the more you take them. Many sleeping pills contain diphenhydramine, which can cause difficulty urinating and a drowsy feeling in the daytime.
