When you are up half the night trying to get enough sleep and worrying about what would happen if you don’t get enough sleep, then taking sleep aid sounds like a great idea. While OTC and prescription sleep aids make you sleep faster, they can give you annoying side effects that can, in some cases, be dangerous. There are natural sleep aids that do not cause the same problems if you take them.
When considering sleep aids, pay attention to whether or not they cause a hangover effect, especially if you only take them late at night when nothing else works. You might be just as drowsy in the morning as you would have been if you didn’t take anything at all.
Developing a Dependency for Sleep Aids
If you take prescription sleep aids for too long, your body will become dependent upon them and you will need more of them to have the same effect. You can become addicted to these sleep aids and be unable to sleep without taking the medicine. This can lead to a bunch of health problems you didn’t have before taking the sleeping pills. Withdrawal symptoms include, nausea, headaches, tremors and irritability that persist during the day if you haven’t taken enough of the sleep aid.
OTC Sleep Aids May Mix with Other Medications
People don’t recognize that over the counter sleeping pills can interact with blood thinners, antibiotics, or other sleeping medications. It can cause problems, rarely death, when mixed with prescription medications for sleep. You shouldn’t take over the counter sleeping pills with narcotic pain relievers, as this can be a dangerous combination.
Natural Sleep Remedies are Effective and Safe
A much safer route to take when you can’t sleep are natural or herbal sleep remedies. These include melatonin and tryptophan, which are found naturally in a healthy body to help in sleep and relaxation. Such remedies, when taken in the correct dose, are safe and gentle for your body. Some of these sleep aids include:
• Melatonin: This is made in the pineal gland in response to a darkening sky and is important to our circadian pattern of sleep. It is good to take whenever your natural sleep clock has gotten out of control
• Valerian: This is a root that helps you relax enough to sleep and is both effective and gentle. It’s commonly used for sleep in Europe as a natural way to block sleep problems.
• Lemon Balm: This is a safe remedy to help you sleep. It relaxes your mind and calms your body so you fall asleep more easily.
• Passion Flower: This blocks an overactive central nervous system and allows your body to get a good night’s rest.
Melatonin and the various herbal sleep aids have been used for a long time for both short term and long term insomnia with few side effects when compared to prescription sleeping medication. You can use these treatments in a tea, in a caplet or capsule or in a tablet or liquid tincture absorbed through the mouth or directly through the skin. It all depends on the medication you use. Such products are used for the attainment and maintenance of a healthy night’s sleep with few side effects or problems taking them.