If you can’t sleep, you have a big problem.  Lack of sleep can affect everything from your job, your relationships and your health.  The biggest thing to trying to cure your insomnia is to figure out what causes it.  It’s different for each person.   For instance, if you are a big caffeine drinker, cutting down on that caffeine can do the trick.  I’ve even heard that reading in bed is a big no-no because it conditions your brain to think that your bed does not mean sleep. 

Of course, if the reason isn’t readily apparent to you, you may even turn to otc sleeping pills.  There are quite a few to choose from of course, they are dangerous for several reasons.  Most of them are habit forming and cause drug tolerance meaning that you have to take more and more of them to work.  Quitting them cold turkey can freak your system out and leave you with the sweats, nausea, irritability and more and most of them leave you feeling sluggish the next day.   

There are other types of sleeping pills available with a prescription but they usually cause the same problems, if not more pronounced.   My mom has a problem sleeping and she went and did a sleep study at a hospital and they prescribed Ambien CR.  Her doctor says that it doesn’t cause dependence issues and she does not feel sluggish the next day.  He has prescribed them to her for three months and hopes that by the end of those three months her body will have re-adjusted.  She’s a big fan of the medication and recommends it all the time.