Insomnia Medication - 4 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Taking Any Medication For Insomnia

Do you want to know how to protect yourself from potentially ineffective and harmful insomnia medications? You will after you read this article.

Are you one of the estimated 60 million people worldwide who suffers from regular insomnia?

If so, you’re probably wondering what you can do to get some relief.

If you go to your doctor, he or she will most likely give you a prescription for sleeping pills.

Before you start taking any medication for sleep, I recommend that yourself these 4 questions?

Do I want to get temporary relief or long term relief?

Most sleeping pills address the symptom of sleeplessness by tranquilizing you. All they really do is sedate you (think wild animal shot with a tranquilizer gun, here). They don't really help you fall asleep, they just make you forget that you never really slept.

For that reason, they don’t really address the causes of your insomnia.

Am I willing to put up with the side effects of sleeping pills?

Sleeping pills interfere with normal brain function and even when they do help you fall asleep, they most often cause a light poor-quality sleep. One of the side effects of sleeping pills is hangover-like symptoms the day after you take them. Other side effects include dry mouth, increased appetite and sensitivity to the sun.

Am I willing to continue increasing the dosage and changing medicines in order to get relief?

With consistent use, your body becomes tolerant of sleeping medication and it no longer works to relieve sleeplessness. This can happen in as little as 4-6 weeks in some cases. Your doctor’s response will most likely be to increase the dosage of the current medication or move to stronger medications with even worse side effects.

Am I willing to risk “rebound insomnia” when I stop taking sleeping pills?

Once you stop taking sleeping pills, some people experience "rebound insomnia" which a much more severe form of insomnia than they had in the first place. Not fun!

With this in mind, I highly recommend that you think long and hard before taking any sleep medications.

The good news is that there are many natural cures for insomnia available for you to try.