How to fall asleep quickly? Yes, there are long-term life style changes that you should make (this would include exercising and eating/drinking habits), but if you want to know how to fall asleep immediately, sleeping pills will do the trick. Keep in mind, however, that they are recommended to be used every once in a while unless your insomnia is severe. Otherwise, there is a risk that you are going to be dependent on sleeping drugs to get you to sleep or, if you use them long enough, their effect will start to wear off. What are your sleeping pill options?

Over the counter OTC Sleeping Pills: They help its users fall asleep, but are not as strong as their prescription strength counterparts.

Some doctors prescribe antidepressants as well as other drugs because they have a sedative effect. However, they have the same exact side effects as their prescription sleeping pill counterparts. Melatonin, a hormone, is also prescribed by doctors and is an option because it doesn’t seem to have risks of dependency.

Benzodiazepines

If your insomnia or sleep deprivation is really severe, there’s a good chance that your doctor will prescribe to you a benzodiazepine. Although this type of medication will knock you out, it will get you into a light sleep. As such, its users often wake tired and drowsy because they didn’t get the full natural sleep level. With these types of drugs tolerance, dependency, as well as other side effects often occur. Brand names of this type of sleeping pill drug include ProSum, Dalmane, and Doral.

Nonbenzodiazepine

These types of drugs have the same side effects as their benzodiazepines counterpart except on a lower scale. Exactly how less the side effects are is not yet known. Furthermore, nobody knows if there are any side effects from the long-term use of this drug. Some types of nonbenzodiazepine increase your risk of depression. To prevent rebound withdrawal (which are serious side effects from the abrupt stoppage of use of the medication) Nonbenzodiazepine is taken in slightly lower and lower doses until it is not needed anymore. Lunesta, which you may very well have seen commercials of, is a nonbenzodiazepine.

Keep in mind that with both prescription drugs, even the newer nonbenzodiazepine, there is the chance of dependency and daytime drowsiness. Aside from OTC sleeping pill drugs, prescription drugs, and melatonin, there are other medications, which your doctor can tell you about and can thus help solve the age-old problem of how to fall asleep quickly.