Sleeplessness is an issue faced by many. Snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome are some of the numerous forms of sleep deprivation.
For some individuals, sleeplessness is fleeting and occasional, but for others, it can be a long-term struggle, and usually, there are two main causes: stress or a medical condition.
But, no matter the cause, sleeplessness must be remedied because of how important sleep is for our health and wellbeing.
A lack of sleep can result in poor decision making or judgement, weight gain, hormone disfunction, illness due to a weakened immune system, depression, increased blood pressure, and an increased risk of heart disease, among others.
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If you are living a healthy lifestyle—clean eating, exercise, etc.—sleep should come easy, but it doesn’t always work that way.
Sometimes, even the healthiest of individuals experience difficulty falling and staying asleep, and it begins to affect their overall wellbeing.
When faced with this struggle, a natural first step would be to look for help in the form of over-the-counter sleeping pills.
Sleep & Maintaining Good Habits
Sleep is closely related to our overall health, and as mentioned earlier, a lack of sleep can cause our health to decline in a variety of ways.
This is why 7 to 9 hours of sleep should be the nightly goal for adults, but it is really based on the person. For example, one person may find they can function normally on 6 hours of sleep, but someone else might need up to 10 hours of sleep per night.
However, pregnant women or people with other medical conditions may require more sleep for their body to perform the functions it needs to. One way to tell if you are getting enough sleep is whether or not you feel drowsy during the day, for instance, at work or during personal obligations.
The best ways to improve sleep are to live clean and have a routine. If you take care of your body with healthy foods and exercise, your body will be functioning the way it should, including being able to achieve restful sleep. Similarly, a good routine when it comes to your sleep habits can make a big difference.
Good sleep habits include going to bed and waking up at the same times consistently, making sure your bedroom is conducive to sleep, and avoiding certain activities before bed.
Maintaining a regular sleep schedule will ensure that you always get the proper amount of sleep.
Our bodies never become accustomed to a lack of sleep, so if you lose sleep one night, you will need to sleep more the next night to make up for it, and that is difficult to accomplish. It is equally important to make sure your bedroom is the perfect sleep environment.
Your bedroom should be a calm, cool, dark, and silent place that is rid of anything that has lights, moves, or makes noise, since those things can interrupt your sleep.
Lastly, what you do before bed can influence your sleep. Avoid being active, eating, or working before bed, and instead try taking a bath or shower, reading or writing in a journal, drinking herbal tea, or meditating before bed.
Sleeping Pills
If your sleeplessness is due to racing thoughts in your head or a medical condition, living a healthy lifestyle may not be enough to help you achieve restful sleep. For those people, a sleeping pill may be able to help.
To put it simply, sleeping pills are drugs or natural supplements that are meant to help those who struggle with sleeplessness fall asleep and stay asleep all night. In most cases, sleeping pills are intended for adults, but natural supplements may be suitable for children as well.
Sleeping pills are available over the counter, or for more serious cases, by prescription. It is common for people who experience occasional sleeplessness to seek help with over-the-counter sleeping pills first, but it is recommended that you see a doctor if your insomnia becomes a bigger issue.
Sleeping pills that are not natural supplements are typically made with one of two active ingredients: diphenhydramine and doxylamine succinate.
These ingredients share some of the same qualities—first, they are both antihistamines, and second, they have very similar side effects. Antihistamines are usually used to treat allergies, but they also have certain sedative qualities which make them effective as sleep aids.
The side effects of these drugs are typically referred to as “hangover effects” and can include dry mouth, blurred vision, drowsiness during the day, constipation, and general unwell feeling, among others.
Additionally, these ingredients put users at a higher risk for developing a dependency on, or tolerance for, the drug. For these reasons, unnatural sleeping pills are only meant to be used temporarily, not as part of your daily routine.
Natural sleeping pills are, as the name suggests, made with naturally occurring ingredients such as melatonin, valerian, chamomile, passionflower, hops, magnesium, and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). These ingredients either come from our bodies or nature, and they have qualities that create feelings of relaxation and drowsiness in order to help users achieve restful sleep.
The supplements made from these ingredients are safer to take on a more regular basis, but they are not proven to be as effective as unnatural sleeping pills.
However, it is important to note that there are some risks with taking natural sleeping pills because they are not strictly regulated by the FDA. As a result, these natural supplements could be made improperly, contain the incorrect dosage, or have the wrong ingredients.
What Are the Top Ten Sleeping Pills?
Here is a summary of the top ten sleeping pills, first unnatural then natural, and each offers a unique combination of desirable features and options. Each product is highly rated, and sleep tested.
Kirkland Signature Sleep Aid
The Kirkland Signature Sleep Aid is an over-the-counter, 25mg sleeping pill with the active ingredient doxylamine succinate. This drug uses an antihistamine to produce a drowsy effect that helps people fall asleep and stay asleep. Other ingredients in this product include dicalcium phosphate, blue coloring, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, and sodium starch glycolate.
As with all sleeping pills, the effects of this drug vary based on the individual and it is not intended as a permanent solution to sleeplessness. Each pack of the Kirkland Signature Sleep Aid contains 96 tablets and the recommended dosage is one tablet.
Pros:
- Body will not become tolerant to the drug
- Becomes effective within 45 minutes
- Highly effective
Cons:
- May cause grogginess in the morning if you sleep less than 8 hours
- Safe for adults only
Vicks ZzzQuil Nighttime Sleep Aid
Unlike other Vicks brand products, ZzzQuil is only intended to help its users get quality sleep, not treat colds or aches and pains.
It helps people who experience difficulty falling and staying asleep with the active ingredient diphenhydramine HCI. Diphenhydramine HCI is an antihistamine that helps users feel drowsy and drift to sleep.
This product also contains the ingredients red and blue coloring, gelatin, glycerin, polyethelene glycol, purified water, and sorbitol sorbitan solution. ZzzQuil is non-habit forming and is available in packs of 48 LiquiCaps.
Pros:
- Becomes effective within 20 minutes
- Won’t leave you feeling groggy
- Highly effective
Cons:
- May allow you to wake up in the middle of the night
- Safe for adults only
Unisom SleepTabs/Gels
Unisom SleepTabs are similar to the Kirkland Signature Sleep Aid because they have the same active ingredient: doxylamine succinate. Doxylamine succinate is a non-habit-forming antihistamine that encourages drowsiness to help users fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed.
Unisom SleepTabs also contain the ingredients dibasic calcium phosphate, blue coloring, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, and sodium starch glycolate. This drug is available in tablet form in packs of 32, 48, or 80, and each dosage is one tablet.
Pros:
- Body will not become tolerant to the drug
- Highly effective
Cons:
- May cause grogginess in the morning if you sleep less than 8 hours
- Safe for adults only
Advil PM
Advil PM differs from the other unnatural sleeping pills because it relieves aches and pains while also helping you fall and stay asleep. The two active ingredients are ibuprofen (200mg) and diphenhydramine citrate (38mg), and other ingredients include calcium stearate, carnauba wax, colloidal silicon dioxide, corn starch, croscarmellose sodium, blue coloring, glyceryl behenate, hypromellose, lactose monohydrate, microcrystalline cellulose, polydextrose, polyethylene glycol, pregelatinized starch, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium starch glycolate, stearic acid, and titanium dioxide. Advil PM comes in coated caplet form in packs of 20, 40, 50, 120, and 200.
Pros:
- Relieves both chronic and temporary pain
- Won’t leave you feeling groggy
- Highly effective
Cons:
- May cause you to have restless legs
- Safe for adults only
Peak Life Somnapure Clinical Strength Sleep Aid
The Peak Life Somnapure sleeping pills are similar to ZzzQuil because they share the same active ingredient, diphenhydramine HCI. This antihistamine product is non-habit forming, and helps its users fall asleep quickly and stay asleep all night.
Other ingredients in this product include croscarmellose sodium, dicalcium phosphate, blue coloring, fractionated coconut oil, hypromellose, magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, microcrystalline cellulose, polydextrose, silicon dioxide, starch, stearic acid, talc, and titanium dioxide. Somnapure comes in packs of 30 caplets.
Pros:
- Relieves anxiety
- Becomes effective within 30 minutes
- Affordable
- Body will not become tolerant to the drug
Cons:
- Safe for adults only
- May cause heart to race
Olly Restful Sleep Gummy Supplement
The first natural sleeping pill on this list is the Olly Restful Sleep Gummy Supplement. This gluten-free, drug-free supplement’s active ingredients are melatonin, l-theanine, chamomile, passionflower, and lemon balm.
Melatonin is a hormone sourced from our bodies that governs our sleep cycle, l-theanine is an amino acid from green tea that creates a calming effect, chamomile is an herb that has a calming effect, as well as anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial qualities, and passionflower and lemon balm produce soothing and relaxing effects. Olly Restful Sleep gummies come in packs of 50, with the recommended dosage of 2 gummies per day. Because it is made with all-natural ingredients, it is safe to use on a more regular basis.
Pros:
- Becomes effective within 30 minutes
- Safe for children
- Highly effective
- Great taste
Cons:
- May cause odd dreams
Natural Factors Stress-Relax Tranquil Sleep
Relax Tranquil Sleep- Like the Olly Restful Sleep gummies, the Tranquil Sleep product from Natural Factors is made with 100% natural ingredients including melatonin, l-theanine, and 5-hydroxytryptophan.
All of these work together; melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in our body that regulates sleep cycles, l-theanine is an amino acid that calms our bodies, and 5-hydroxytryptophan comes from amino acids and is a precursor to melatonin. Other natural ingredients include sugar, magnesium stearate, natural fruit flavors, and citric acid. This sleep aid comes in chewable tablet form, and the recommended dosage is 2 tablets before bed.
Pros:
- Becomes effective within 40 minutes
- Highly effective
- Energetic feeling in the morning
- Safe for children
- Relieves anxiety
Cons:
- May contain too much sugar/sweetness
Nested Naturals Luna Natural Sleep Aid
The Luna sleeping pills is all natural and 100% vegan. Like the other natural sleeping pills or supplements on this list, it is non-habit forming and has minimal side effects because it contains no chemicals. The active ingredients in Luna are magnesium, melatonin, GABA, l-theanine, valerian root, lemon balm, passionflower, and hops.
Magnesium helps regulate our body’s production of melatonin, and melatonin regulates our sleep cycles. GABA and l-theanine are both amino acids that work to create a soothing effect. Valerian root, lemon balm, passionflower, and hops are all herbs and extracts that calm our bodies. All of these ingredients together result in a product designed to help you fall asleep quickly, stay asleep, and wake up rested. Nested Naturals offers a risk-free, money-back guarantee with the purchase of Luna.
Pros:
- Won’t leave you feeling groggy or “hungover”
- Energetic feeling in the morning
Cons:
- May not overcome particularly stubborn sleeplessness
- Effect may be different each time you take it
Zhou Nutrition Driftoff Premium Sleep Aid
The Driftoff Premium Sleep Aid works double duty by helping users sleep and easing anxiety and restlessness. These natural sleeping pills are vegetarian and free from any chemical ingredients. Like the Luna sleep aid, the active ingredients in Driftoff are melatonin, valerian root, chamomile, GABA, passionflower, lemon balm, and hops.
This product also has the ingredient l-tryptophan, which is an amino acid found in plant and animal proteins that supports the functions of melatonin. All of these ingredients together produce feelings of relaxation and drowsiness. Finally, Zhou Nutrition offers discounts when you purchase two or more of their products together.
Pros:
- Won’t leave you feeling groggy or “hungover”
- Safe for all ages
- Relieves anxiety
Cons:
- May not overcome particularly stubborn sleeplessness
Genius Sleep Aid
The Genius Sleep Aid has several key benefits that go above and beyond helping with sleeplessness. This product helps decrease anxiety levels, balance moods, detox your body of caffeine, and restore adrenal function. These sleeping pills are vegan and non-habit forming.
The major ingredients in the Genius Sleep Aid are melatonin, l-theanine, glycine (an amino acid), inositol (a form of sugar), and rutaecarpine, which is what helps to rid your body of caffeine. Additionally, Pacific Coast Naturals, the manufacturer of the Genius Sleep Aid, offers discounts when you purchase two or more of their products together.
Pros:
- Won’t leave you feeling groggy or “hungover”
- Energetic feeling in the morning
- Relieves anxiety
- Highly effective
Cons:
- May not work for everyone
What Else Should You Consider When Using Sleeping Pills?
When trying to find a solution for sleeplessness, it is vital to keep your health as your number one priority. Whenever you introduce a new medication to your body, there are risks to take into consideration.
First, what are the side effects of this new drug or supplement and are you willing to see if they manifest in you? This question is most relevant when considering an unnatural sleeping pill because it is more common to experience side effects with the antihistamine pills than natural supplements.
The only natural ingredient that has been reported to have side effects is valerian or valerian root, which can bring “hangover” symptoms like headache, upset stomach, confusion, dry mouth, and feelings of anxiety. Furthermore, you should be prepared to experience side effects when trying different products to determine which one works best for you.
Second, will this new drug or supplement interact adversely with your current health conditions or medications? Certain over-the-counter sleeping pills, both natural and unnatural, could create a new health concern or worsen an existing one. It is important to research, and be informed about, any new medication or supplement you are going to try in order to make the safest decision.
Sleeping Pills – Final Thoughts
If you are experiencing difficulty falling or staying asleep, there is help. Both natural and unnatural sleeping pills provide options to remedy your sleeplessness, whether it’s caused by stress or a medical condition.
Not all sleeping pills are the same, so it is best to try different products to find a good fit. Keep in mind that sleeping pills are an occasional or temporary solution to sleeplessness, and if your sleeplessness continues, consult a doctor for another course of action.
