There are a huge amount of sleep aids on the market today. When picking a sleep aid there are three categories to pick from. One is available only by prescription, the second choice is to use an over the counter sleep aid while others are at your nearest health food store.  Only you and/or your doctor can help to decide which sleep aid is right for you.

Prescription medications that help you get to sleep include Lunesta, Rozerem, Halcion, Ambien and Sonata.  Medications that help you stay asleep are Estazdam, Lunesta, Restoril, Ambien CR. These are really more of a last resort for someone with prolonged insomnia. Side effects may include dizziness, headache, sleep-driving, severe allergic reaction, swelling of the face, as well as possible prolonged drowsiness.

The next best possible sleep aids are over the counter medications. Diphenhydramia, is the key ingredient in medications such as Nytol, Sominex and Unisom. These have very few side effects. It is possible to become addicted to any sleep aid, whether a prescription or over the counter drug.

Getting out of the drug thought process, try using herbs to help you sleep. A cup of chamomile tea before bed helps to relax your mind and your muscles. You may also want to try valerian root which reduces the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep as well as increasing the quality of your sleep. This should be taken approximately 1 hour before bedtime. Valerian root takes 2-3 weeks for the user to receive it’s full effects. Do not use it longer than 3 months. Consult a health professional before using this herb if you take prescription medications. Other items are lavender, which is a known stress reliever as well as St.John’s Wort which is known to help with depression. If your insomnia is due to depression then this herbal supplement would help a great deal. Another supplement recommended by herbalists is melatonin. Melatonin is a natural substance inside our bodies that help to control your internal clock. It can be taken in pill form. It is great for jet lag or if you work odd hours at work. Melatonin should be taken within 30 minutes of bedtime and be used for less than three months. Doctors say that caution should be used with this her if you suffer from depression or an autoimmune disease. All of these herbs can be found in health food stores as well as in some grocery stores.

A truly all natural way to induce sleep is through food. Ingesting Tryptaphan, most commonly found in turkey meat, causes increased levels in serotonin which transforms into melatonin. This type of response also occurs when eating complex carbohydrates such as whole grain breads or whole grain crackers.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to get a peaceful and refreshing full night’s sleep. But the unfortunate ones fortunately have drugs such as Rozerem that can to a large extent take care of the problem for them.

Is Rozerem For You ? – Sleep On It

Sleep inducing drugs have been around for as long as sleeplessness and Rozerem comes with a lot of promises for the sleepless. Starting with potions that induced drowsiness to more sophisticated drugs that depressed the nervous system, sleeping pills have come along way. The earlier attempts have had the desired effect of inducing and maintaining sleep. But they were fraught with side-effects. Nausea and dryness of the mouth are some of the discomforts suffered by users. In addition, there was the danger of addiction.

Attempts to formulate a drug that did not sedate the entire nervous system, that was not addictive and that did not have side-effects led to the invention of Rozerem. Rozerem is a melatonin receptor agonist, which means that it attaches or bonds with only specific group of neurons localized in the brain and not in the entire nervous system. It leaves the entire central nervous system free to function normally, while it attacks the area of the brain dealing with sleep overloads. By bonding with MT1 and MT2 and thus blocking the alertness mechanism, Rozerem allows the sleep overload to take over and the person falls asleep naturally. Also, the time taken to fall asleep is significantly reduced with the use of Rozerem.

While this sounds like a fairy tale, bear in mind that often when a medication is tested for safety and efficacy, some side-effects do not come to light and are only seen when the drug is used. So, even though devised as a safe and naturally acting pill, it would not be wise to use Rozerem indiscriminately. Use it only under the doctor’s instructions, in the recommended dosage. Do not stop it suddenly or you will have withdrawal symptoms as your dependence on the pill has affected your ability to fall asleep naturally. Also, many a time, using a pill regularly and over long periods may reduce its efficacy, so do consult your doctor from time to time. Rozerem is not classified as a controlled substance and is definitely not a narcotic, but it could become habit forming.

In fact, there are several DON’Ts associated with the use of Rozerem. Avoid Rozerem if you are taking LUVOX or have liver problems. Also do not pop a Rozerem after having consumed alcohol. Since dizziness is one of the side effects, do not drive or operate machinery till you know how you will react to Rozerem. Many people may have allergic reactions. Rozerem may affect your libido or fertility, so do visit your doctor immediately if you notice any irregularities here.

Typically Rozerem is taken just before bedtime, usually about 30 minutes before and you can sleep for 8 hours after that, so you sleep away the potential nasty effects like nausea or dizziness. So what do these 8 hours of unbroken sleep cost you? A little more than $3, the average price of an 8mg Rozerem pill! With all the precautions and side effects listed, you have to decide if it is worth the cost.

A good Discussion about Rozerem vs Ambien

Vanda does all three. In the Phase II trials, 3 different doses of VEC162 were tested against a placebo and were to found to be more effective, for all three levels. It has been found to increase sleep time up to 48 minutes, according to reports. Furthermore, it facilitates natural sleep, so there are no side effects.

WASO (Wake Up After Sleep Onset) is the insomniac’s nightmare. VEC 162 reduced this causing the user to have an efficient sleep, and the time taken to fall asleep was also reduced. In pharma – medical parlance, VEC 162 had the desired sleep onset effect and sleep maintenance effect.

How does Vanda achieve this? Unlike the other drugs that bind to GABA-A receptors, widespread in the Central Nervous System, therefore, affecting the entire nervous system, Vanda is a melatonin receptor agonist, which means it selectively binds to melatonin receptors in the brain’s ‘master clock’. It does not bind with any other receptor in the entire nervous system, thereby avoiding a sedative effect or causing depression in the entire nervous system. It dampens the alerting signal and allows accumulated sleep load to take over, very naturally. This helps treat sleep disorders safely, without the scepter of sedation, and may even help depression, which successive trials would confirm.

The good news is that Vanda will probably be sold as an uncontrolled drug, just as its predecessor Rozerem, since it has no potential for abuse and no withdrawal symptoms. There are also no uncomfortable side effects like a dry mouth or more seriously, hormonal changes. Also, Vanda betters the current favorite Rozerem in sleep maintenance and might even overtake its sales. People will probably clamor for this wonderful pill with no known side effects – but wait! The most innocuous of remedies can be abused by unthinking users.

If you do start using Vanda, please take the physician’s directions very seriously. Do not prescribe your own doses. Secondly, try not to think of the drug as a lifeline for life. Instead, look upon it as a temporary means to get over your current sleep difficulties. It is also suggested that you use it only if your lack of sleep is due to ‘physical’ causes, like an injury or post-surgery pain. If you are under stress, look to first solve your problems cerebrally, rather than just bank on drug-induced sleep. This would insure you against the most serious side effect – drug dependence, dependence more psychological than physiological. Used judiciously, there is probably no parallel to Vanda in the treatment of insomnia and other sleep disorders.