Question by Forest Wanderer: What are some good non-habit forming sleeping aids?
besides anti-histamines (benadryl, tylenol PM, etc) what are some effective sleeping aids which are non-habit forming?
Best answer:
Answer by Brian
Physical activity throughout the day helps significantly.
Give your answer to this question below!
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excercise andd also nytol is good its a herbal remedy you can get it in most chemists
Anything that induces a pleasant body reaction like sleep is potentially habit-forming, but some are way less so than others.
Try the links below for pointers.
Try sleeping with a fan. The constant humming puts me to sleep almost instantly!
Have you ever tried Brainwave Entrainment? It is like sleep aid with sound. This is a pretty big subject to answer here but if you want to read more go to the link below. They have an interesting article. Of course they are trying to sell a product but the product is good and much better than pills.
Not all hypnotics are “habit forming” its a simple fact. There are two FDA approved drugs for insomnia that are not controlled substances.
There are three types of insomnia- sleep onset insomnia (hard time falling asleep), sleep maintenance insomnia (hard time staying asleep), and people who have both problems. Silenor (doxepin) tablets are indicated for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulties with sleep maintenance. Rozerem (ramelteon) is indicated for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulty with sleep onset. Both have no generic equivalents.
Neither drug is approved for both sleep onset and sleep maintenance insomnia. Silenor is the “newest oldest drug” for insomnia. Silenor was only recently FDA approved but the drug doxepin was first approved in September 23, 1969 under the brand name Sinequan. Sinequan is FDA approved for for the treatment of depression and/or anxiety in psychoneurotic patients, for depression and/or anxiety associated with alcoholism (not to be taken concomitantly with alcohol, nor is it for alcohol withdrawal), for depression and/or anxiety associated with organic disease and for psychotic depressive disorders with associated anxiety including involutional depression and manic-depressive disorders. In Canada Sinequan is approved for psychoneurotic patients with anxiety and/or depressive reactions; anxiety neurosis associated with somatic disorders; alcoholic patients with anxiety and/or depression. psychotic depression, including manic-depressive illness (depressed type) and involutional melancholia.
More recently many doctors have, against medical guidelines, started to used low-dose sedating antidepressants in patients with insomnia particularly the drugs Sinequan (doxepin), Elavil (amitriptyline), Desyrel (trazodone), and Remeron (mirtazapine). None of these drugs are approved to treat insomnia nor do most studies find them to be effective in most patient populations.
When antidepressants are used for sleep they are used at doses too low to help with depression but high enough to cause significant side effects and, for some people, help with sleep. Silenor for example comes in 3 and 6 mg tablets but a dose to treat anxiety or depression is 150-300 mg/day. If you do consider doxepin I recommend the generic Sinequan 10 mg. The generic medication costs just a few dollars, Silenor will cost far more.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommend against using low-dose antidepressants for insomnia unless other treatments fail.
Rozerem is a potent MT1 and MT2 melatonin receptor agonist.
Statistically Silenor and Rozerem only increase total sleep time a short time, often 15 min or less. Silenor will not reduce sleep latency (time to fall asleep).
The best medications, and the medications recommended by the The American Academy of Sleep Medicine as first and second-line treatments are short- or intermediate-acting benzodiazepine receptor agonists (BzRAs) including Ambien (zolpidem), Sonata (zaleplon), Lunesta (eszopiclone), Restoril (temazepam), and ProSom (estazolam). Granted these drugs do have some habit-forming potential but actually it is extremely rare. The major concern about addiction to hypnotics is from when barbiturates, now seldom used, where the drugs of choice for insomnia. When hypnotics are used for a legitimate problem, are taken as prescribed, and are not used (or are carefully used) by people with a history of drug/alcohol addiction the risk of abuse is almost zero. In studies of these drugs, involving thousands of people, there were only a small handful who became addicted- all but a few had a history of drug abuse.
Do let a fear of addiction scare you into taking substandard treatment. Addiction does happen but it is a lot less common then people think, especially to hypnotics.
Get your internal clock in good working order. Start by keeping a fixed time to go to bed every night. Get up at the same time everyday, even if you went to bed late, did not sleep well or want to sleep in. Getting up at the same time is an important part of getting your internal clock to work properly. When you get your internal clock to function well, it will make you sleepy at bedtime and wake you up at the proper time every morning.