Sleeping pills, what types and side effects? How does it work?

For those of you who have trouble sleeping, maybe you've thought about trying pharmacy sleeping pills. However, before trying this drug you should understand very well how each drug works, the cause of your insomnia, even the effects of sleeping pills that can occur. Taking medication for sleep is not like drinking water, there are a number of things that you must pay attention to so that the drug reacts safely in the body. If you are still in doubt, you can also use natural sleeping pills, really. Let's take a look at all the reviews about sleeping drugs below

The cause of insomnia

There are many reasons why people have trouble sleeping, from depression that leads to insomnia, stress, food, to the health condition of your body. The following are the causes of insomnia that can occur:

1. Stress

Stress can make it difficult to sleep. The adrenal glands will release several hormones, namely the hormones adrenaline and cortisol when stressed.

This hormone has the property of keeping you awake and feeling very difficult to sleep even though you struggle to do it. Therefore, managing stress is very important so as not to make it difficult for you to sleep.

Relieving stress is nearly impossible, but how you position yourself to deal with the busyness and stress of stress helps calm your nights, making it easier for you to sleep. Stress will trigger you to experience insomnia more easily.

2. Depression

Depression is a mental illness that can affect mood, stamina, appetite, concentration, and even sleep patterns. Depressed people are more likely to feel sad and anxious.

This condition makes the chemical in the brain, namely serotonin, which affects mood, emotions, and sleep time becomes unstable. This then makes you experience insomnia or insomnia.

3. Drink caffeine

Caffeine is a substance that can stay in the bloodstream for a long time. More or less can last 8-14 hours after you eat or drink something that contains caffeine. After 8-14 hours, the body just starts filtering the caffeine in the blood.

The presence of caffeine is what keeps you awake. No wonder some people who drink coffee after that have trouble sleeping. There are even some people who drink coffee long before bedtime, like in the morning but still find it difficult to sleep at night.

4. Hormonal changes

Reproductive hormones undergo changes, especially in women during menstruation, pregnancy, or entering menopause. These conditions can all affect the chemicals in the brain that control sleep time.

The discomfort or pain felt by women during this phase also makes it more difficult to sleep than before.

5. Drink alcohol

It turns out that high alcohol levels can make it difficult for you to sleep. Reported on the WebMD page, alcohol reduces sleep time in the REM stage, which is the stage when you are the most asleep. Alcohol also increases the non-REM sleep phase, which is the phase of sleep that is not deep.

That way the quality of your sleep will be disturbed. Some people have trouble sleeping because they wake up so easily.

6. Food is not right

It turns out that food can also make it difficult for you to sleep, especially the food you eat before bed. Eating too much or too little can disrupt your sleep time.

Also, eating dinner too close to bedtime can make you feel uncomfortable. Because, there can be an increase (reflux) of food from the stomach back into the esophagus. This is what makes you feel like there is burning, pain, or coughing before going to bed.

If that is the condition, it will certainly make it even more difficult for you to sleep and reduce the rest time you should.

Natural sleeping medicine to treat insomnia

Instead of using medication to sleep medically, you can first try natural sleeping pills. You need to know that chemical-based drugs, have side effects that will affect your body. So, try some natural remedies first. Here are some natural sleeping pills that you can use when you have trouble sleeping:

1. Chamomile

Chamomile is one of the natural sleeping pills that you can use and find easily. The reason is, on the market chamomile is widely available in the form of teas, extracts or topical ointments.

You can use chamomile before bed to treat insomnia or insomnia that you experience.

2. Valerian root

Valerian root, a native herbal plant from Europe, can also be your natural sleep remedy. Some experts say that taking 300-900 mg of valerian root before bed can make you feel sleepy more quickly, while valerian also improves the quality of your sleep.

Reported in the American Journal of Medicine in 2015, short-term intake of valerian is still relatively safe and rarely did participants in this study complain of serious side effects.

3. Foods that trigger melatonin production

Foods that can trigger melatonin production such as almonds, walnuts, milk, cheese, yogurt, cherries, lettuce, tuna can be your natural sleeping pills so you don't have trouble sleeping. Increasing levels of melatonin in the brain can speed up sleep.

4. Foods that contain magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral in the body that helps the brain and heart function. Apart from that, the mineral magnesium also has a relaxing effect that can regulate your biological clock, including your sleep time.

Meanwhile, another study found that people who lack magnesium levels are more likely to experience sleep disorders such as insomnia.

Magnesium is a natural sleep medicine that is easily found in nuts, avocado, milk, spinach, broccoli, mustard greens, and fish.

5. Lavender

This beautiful purple flower has a unique and calming distinctive aroma. It's no wonder that lavender is widely used as an aromatherapy to calm the body and speed up sleep. Some even claim that smelling lavender 30 minutes before bed can help improve the quality of your sleep.

Therefore, this natural sleeping pill can be a practical choice to place in your room. Inhaling the aromatic lavender therapy in the room will also make your bedroom fragrant.

Pharmacy sleeping pills (Over-the-counter medicines)

If natural sleeping pills don't work, you can use drugs that make you sleepy without a doctor's prescription. Although they can be obtained without a prescription, these drugs for sleeping from pharmacies should not be used for a long time and in excessive doses.

These pharmacy sleeping pills can only be used for a short period of about 7 days. Read the recommended use of these pharmacy sleeping pills before you use them, and follow the instructions carefully. Because, if not these pharmacy sleeping pills can change your body's metabolism and your lifestyle.

Pharmacy sleeping pills that you can get are:

• Diphenhydramine (under the brand names of drugstore sleeping pills Nytol, Sominex, Sleepinal, Compoz, Excerdin PM, Tylenol PM)
• Doxylamine (with the brand name Unisom pharmacy sleeping pills, Nighttime, Sleep aid)

Some brands of these sleeping pills contain antihistamines with the pain reliever acetaminophen. This antihistamine content provides various side effects of sleeping pills that you need to be aware of.

Are there other sleeping pills besides pharmacy sleeping pills?

In addition to pharmacy sleeping pills that you buy without a prescription, there are some sleeping pills that are prescribed from your doctor. Generally doctors use sleeping pills using GABA pills.

This pill acts on the GABA receptors in the brain that control sleepiness and relaxation. Medicines that are classified as GABA drugs are:

• Ambien (zolpidem tartrate)
• Ambien CR (zolpidem tartrate)
• Lunesta (eszopiclone)
• Sonata (zaleplon)

This drug that acts on the GABA receptors in the brain does not affect all receptors, therefore, this type of sleeping drug is considered safer than benzodiazepine sleeping pills, which are long-standing sleeping pills.

This GABA type sleeping pill also has less side effects. In most people using this sleeping pill, GABA is processed faster in the body so that in the morning when you wake up the effect is less visible.

In addition, there are also new sleeping pills that are used to treat insomnia. This drug is Ramelteon (Rozerm). Ramelteon will directly affect the body's biological clock, including a person's sleep and wake cycles.

A person's sleep wake cycle is controlled by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. Ramelton will bind to melatonin receptors in this area of ​​the hypothalamus to encourage you to fall asleep quickly.

Because Ramelton's effect is on only one part of the brain, this sleeping pill has fewer side effects than other drugs which act more generally on several parts of the brain.

However, this does not mean there is no dependence at all, dependence can still occur on this drug but its severity tends to be lower.

What are the effects of sleeping pills that can occur?

The effect of drugstore sleeping pills containing the most common antihistamines is to cause headaches and forgetfulness. In addition, the effect of pharmacy sleeping pills containing antihistamines if used in the wrong dosage and time period will cause:

• Severe drowsiness the next day
• Makes its users feel that there are irregularities in their life
• Constipation
• Difficulty urinating (difficulty passing urine)
• Dry mouth and throat
• Nausea

Therefore, although drugs for sleeping from pharmacies can be purchased over the counter, you need to be very careful about the effects of these sleeping pills.

Not only sleeping pills that contain antihistamines that cause side effects, overall the effects of other sleeping pills can also occur without a doctor's control. Here are the effects of other sleeping pills:

1. Increased risk of death and accidents

Taking pharmacy sleeping pills or sleeping pills based on a doctor's prescription makes the body accustomed to drug reactions before bedtime. If you take more than the recommended dose of sleeping pills, it will put pressure on the respiratory system, thus creating the risk of death. This is the effect of the most dangerous sleeping pills.

The drowsiness effect of sleeping pills also needs to be considered if you are going to be driving. The reason is, the drowsiness effect the next day that arises after taking sleeping pills increases the risk of road accidents.

2. Sleep disturbances

The effect of other sleep medications is to cause various disturbances in your sleep, such as delirium, or sleeping while walking.

3. Losing balance

Another side effect is blurring of the nervous system sensors in the feet. Even though the feet have an important function to support the body and keep the body in balance.

So the effect of pharmacy sleeping pills or other sleeping pills can make it easier for you to fall. The effect of this drug will be more at risk for the elderly who are taking sleeping pills.

How do drugs for sleep work?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of medication for sleeping, the first is a mild sleeping pill, which provides a feeling of drowsiness. The second, is a powerful sleeping pills that are specially made as a tool so that people who have difficulty sleeping can fall asleep much more easily.

The way sleep medications work greatly affects the work of the brain to trigger drowsiness.

The way medicine works for light sleep doesn't actually make you feel sleepy right away. This drowsiness will appear after this drug has been drunk and digested in the body. This drowsiness reaction is a side effect of the drug reaction in the body.

Meanwhile, the way drugs work for heavy category sleep is to affect the GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptors in the brain which are responsible for inhibiting nervous system function.

Inhibition of the function of the nervous system will stimulate drowsiness or a sense of relaxation in the body, so that people who take this medication for sleep are sleepy. This type of drug helps a person to sleep faster than mild drugs.

Do this habit before bed to reduce the use of drugs for sleeping

Using medication for sleep is not the only way to deal with insomnia that you are experiencing. Here are some good sleep habits so you don't have trouble sleeping:

• Don't drink caffeine
• Avoid alcohol and nicotine 3 hours before bed
• Use the bedroom only for rest so that you are not easily distracted and think of many things
• Exercise regularly, finish a few hours before bed
• Finish your meal at least 2-3 hours before bed
• Create a quiet sleeping environment from noise, light that is too eye-catching, and extreme temperatures (too cold or too hot)

Don't mess around, this is how to take medicine to sleep safely

Any medication for sleep can be addictive, and side effects that may disrupt the normal condition of your body.

When you start using medication for sleep, then stop using it again, it makes you anxious and makes it hard to sleep, even though you don't really need it physically but the psychic still wants it.

If this feeling of dependence gets worse, consult your doctor immediately. Especially if you have been taking medication to sleep for a long time, never stop suddenly.

See your doctor to stop using sleep medications and reduce the effects of sleeping pills.

Therefore, you cannot use drugs to sleep carelessly. The following are things you need to pay attention to when taking sleeping pills:

• Pay attention to any side effects that appear, record, and report all side effects that you feel to the doctor.
• Do not increase, decrease, or change the number of pills without advice from your doctor. Because excessive doses can make you feel tremors and groggy the next day.
• Do not mix prescription sleep medications with over-the-counter medications.
• Do not do activities after taking the drug, such as driving, eating, or operating heavy machinery.
• Drug consumption is carried out 20 to 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Do not mix sleeping pills with alcohol or other sedatives.
• If without a doctor's medication, you should use the lowest dose. After that, look at the effects of the sleeping pills you take afterward.
• The use of medication for safe sleep is when you sleep at least 7-8 hours a day. Otherwise, you will feel very drowsy the next day.