Most sleeping pills are closely related to the drugs that are given for anxiety to help people feel calmer (sedatives). Drugs prescribed as sedatives will help you sleep if taken at night, while sleeping pills will sedate you if taken during the day. Generally speaking, the short-acting drugs are those that are prescribed as sleeping tablets, and the longer-acting are prescribed for anxiety.
Sleeping drugs are more likely to be effective in cases where the difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep (insomnia) is short-lived. They are less helpful when the insomnia has been going on for a long time. No sleeping pills should be used for long-term treatment.
When do doctors prescribe sleeping pills?
If someone is having problems sleeping, every effort should be made to treat the underlying problems and develop successful sleeping habits more naturally before resorting to sleeping drugs.
Current advice is that sedatives should only be used for short periods, and only for insomnia that is severe, disabling, or causing extreme distress. The British National Formulary (BNF) – the twice-yearly book which gives details of all the drugs licensed for use in this country – advises that sleeping tablets should only be prescribed when the cause of insomnia is known and underlying factors have been treated.
This is because the drugs are likely to cause dependence; meaning people may have great difficulty coming off them. Also, people are likely to become so used to them (tolerant) that they need to take increasing doses to achieve the same effect. This increases the risk of side effects and of having difficulties withdrawing from them.
In spite of this, these drugs are still widely prescribed and sleeping pills are frequently given in hospital. Many people take sleeping pills for the first time while they are patients on a hospital ward.
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