There are basically two types of medicines on the market that help people with sleeping problems. The first one is of the over the counter variety. These are basically antihistamines and provide men and women with a solution for temporary insomnia. Generally speaking, these types of sleeping pills are fairly harmless as they don't work that well when used over consecutive days. If you've traveled over multiple time zones or suffered through some kind of an accident, chances are your doctor will recommend an over the counter sleeping pill like Nytol or Unisom. For more serious sleeping disorders, prescription sleep aids are often the answer. In this article, we'll look at what makes a good prescription sleeping aid medication.

Before doing so, though, I think it's necessary to tell my readers that I'm not a doctor! The advice outlined below is really for information only. If you consistency have trouble functioning throughout the day to lack of sleep, you should definitely see a doctor. The two of you can work out a plan that targets your specific problems. There is also quite a few sites that offer advice for sleeping. Before you consider approaching your doctor for a prescription you may want to look into some more natural sleep inducers.

Prescription Sleep Aids - 3 Different Types

All sleep aids available through a prescription can be broken into three different categories.  Regardless of what type they are, though, a few things remain the same.  The most important thing to remember is that these products are for people that have sleeping disorders.  If you're suffering from jet lag or something, these medications aren't for you.  There's a reason why you need a prescription to them.  These are serious, and potentially dangerous, drugs.

The first type are known as Benzodiazepine drugs.  Types of sleeping pills in this class are widely known.  Popular brand names include Prosom, Dalmar, Doral and Restoril.  Benzodiazepine sleeping aids are also sometimes used for anxiety disorders.  This should give you an idea of just how heavy these drugs can be.  These drugs help induce sleep by effecting the nervous system.  Basically, they slow down the brain and body, allowing the patient to rest easier.  There are some common downfalls that come with using pills like this though.   The most dangerous thing to think about is dependency.  It's quite possible that a patient used to sleeping with the help of pills will have difficulty once treatment stops.  This is why it is absolutely imperative that you work with a doctor when selecting the best prescription sleep aid for you.  He or she will help you select smaller and smaller dosages until you're completely off the pill.  Other common side effects include blurry vision and constipation.  With most patients, these symptoms don't hang around forever.  With continued use, these common side effects will go away.

There are also prescription sleep aids that are known as Non-Benzodiazepine pills.  These types of drugs are becoming more and more common all the time.  In fact, most doctors these days will recommend these meds before the benzodiazepine sleep aids mentioned above.  Some common brand names that you may recognize include Lunesta, Ambien and Sonata.  They work in much same way as other prescription sleeping aids but don't typically have as many side effects.  This means that folks who suffer from sleeping disorders can get the help they need without all the headaches, day-time drowsiness and dependency issues.

The final type of prescription sleeping aid is the melatonin receptor.  This is a relatively new product.  The brand name Rozerem is probably the most popular melatonin receptor out there.  These meds are safe and don't have as many side effects as the products mentioned above.

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