When it comes to sleep problems, there is one thing that cannot be avoided, and that is sleeping pills. According to statistics, the population of insomniacs in China has reached 300 million. On average, every 5-10 insomnia patients will take sleeping pills. According to this ratio, there are about 30 million to 60 million people. People will take sleeping pills. In order to have a good sleep, some patients may even take multiple sleeping pills at once, but they still cannot fall asleep normally.

In addition, many people have misunderstandings about the use of sleeping pills. The traditional concept is that taking sleeping pills will lead to addiction. Therefore, most insomnia patients have mixed love and hatred for sleeping pills. And more people do not understand the purpose and usage of sleeping pills. Some people even try to buy medicines from unknown sources on the Internet or get them from friends, but do not take them by themselves under the doctor’s instructions.

In fact, there are many types of sleeping pills, and their efficacy, indications and suitable groups are also very different. Today, I will introduce to you the types of sleeping pills, various types of sleeping aids, and the correct use of sleeping pills.

Do sleeping pills make you want to sleep? Wrong, there are about two types of sleeping pills in a broad sense.

In fact, there are two types of sleeping drugs in a broad sense. One is a drug that has a sleep aid effect, which is an auxiliary effect, which can make people drowsy, relax the body and mind, and relax the muscles. The other kind , is a sleeping pill in a narrow sense, mainly a prescription drug for dealing with insomnia, which is often referred to by doctors as “sleeping pills” or “sedative sleeping pills”. These two different drugs also have their own classifications, and we will briefly list them below:

1. Drugs with sleep aids

antihistamines

melatonin

Antidepressants, Antipsychotics

2. Sedative and sleeping pills

Benzodiazepines

non-benzodiazepines

Among the above-mentioned drugs, melatonin is the main one that you can buy at the pharmacy. This kind of drug belongs to the category of health care products. The other drugs can only be purchased with a prescription, that is to say, they all need to be prescribed by the doctor according to the patient’s condition. A prescription can only be purchased by the patient.

Medications That Help Sleep, Work Differently

The following are the five types of drugs mentioned above:

1. Antihistamines

According to the method of use, antihistamines are generally used to treat allergies and colds, control symptoms such as nasal congestion and runny nose, but because of their side effects, they can block the mechanism of the sleep center to promote wakefulness and cause drowsiness, so they can also be used to help This is why we feel sleepy after taking some cold medicines, or some cold medicines will prompt you to prohibit driving after taking them.

In addition, antihistamines also have side effects such as nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, increased intraocular pressure, urine retention and constipation, so it is not recommended to purchase and take them for a long time. If there is no improvement or the side effects are too strong, it is recommended to stop using it immediately.

2. Melatonin

Melatonin is an important substance used in the human body to regulate sleep time. If the secretion of melatonin is abnormal (too little at night and too much during the day), it will affect the body’s sleep time. Generally speaking, melatonin is used to improve the difficulty falling asleep caused by jet lag or abnormal biological clock.

In China, melatonin is a health food, you can buy it in stores or online, but you should check whether it is a regular manufacturer and whether it has a food health product certification mark, so as to avoid buying fake products and adding unknown drugs Or ingredients, the result is that sleep is not improved, but it leads to damage to physical health.

3. Antidepressants, antipsychotics

Most patients with mental illness have insomnia, so doctors usually prescribe drugs, such as antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs with hypnotic effects, as adjuvant therapy for patients. However, these drugs have many side effects. From a health point of view, it is generally not recommended for non-psychiatric patients.

4. Benzodiazepine sleeping pills

Benzodiazepine sleeping pills can reduce the time to fall asleep and prolong the sleep time. In addition to the sedative and sleeping effects, they also have anti-anxiety, muscle relaxation and anti-epileptic effects.

Common side effects of benzodiazepines are drowsiness, headache, dizziness, fatigue, mental confusion, muscle weakness and ataxia, etc. After taking benzodiazepines, a few people will experience a hangover the next morning, such as slow movement, dizziness or sleepiness, etc. symptom.

Benzodiazepines inhibit the central nervous system and are mainly metabolized by the liver, so they are not suitable for patients with myasthenia gravis, severe respiratory insufficiency, sleep apnea syndrome, severe hepatic insufficiency and allergy to benzodiazepines.

5. Non-benzodiazepine sleeping pills

Non-benzodiazepine sleeping pills have fast action and short half-life, can induce sleep quickly, and are not easy to change the sleep cycle, but relatively reduce the side effects of muscle relaxation, anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety.

Non-benzodiazepines are widely accepted by patients because of their fast efficacy and no alternate-day side effects caused by taking benzodiazepines. Dependence, which is what many people mean by addiction , In clinical practice, some patients even took 8 sleeping pills at a time and still could not sleep.

Introduction to the efficacy of sleeping pills: short, medium and long-acting

Sleeping pills can be divided into the following three types according to their duration of action:

Short-acting type: It has a short duration of action and is suitable for those who have difficulty falling asleep. It will not affect the mental state of the next day. However, if it is used improperly or frequently, it will easily cause rebound insomnia. Most of the benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepines we mentioned earlier belong to this category of short-acting sleeping pills.

Moderate type: suitable for light sleep or early awakening, which can increase the patient’s sleep time. Most of the psychoactive drugs belong to this category, such as the anti-anxiety estazolam and so on.

Long-acting: For the treatment of sleep that is difficult to maintain at night, and is often complicated by anxiety or sleepiness during the day. These types of sleeping pills are generally not far from medium-acting sleeping pills, and are mainly distinguished by the patient’s tolerance to the drug. For example, some people can achieve long-term sleeping effects by taking benzodiazepines, but some people have average effects.