Best Sleeping Medications to Treat Insomnia

Some antidepressant drugs, such as trazodone (Desyrel), are very good at treating sleeplessness and anxiety. Benzodiazepines such as -- emazepam (Restoril), triazolam (Halcion), and others -- may be useful when you wish an insomnia medication that stays in the system longer. Doxepine (Silenor) is approved for used in people who have trouble staying asleep. Silenor may help with sleep maintenance by blocking histamine receptors.

Drugs Without Prescription (Lunesta) helps you drift off quickly, and studies show people sleep an average of 7 to 8 hours. Lemborexant (Dayvigo) is for individuals who have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Ramelteon (Rozerem) functions by targeting the sleep-wake cycle, not by depressing the central nervous system. Suvorexant (Belsomra) works by blocking a hormone that promotes wakefulness and causes insomnia.

Sonata stays active in the body for the shortest amount of time. That means you can try to fall asleep on your own. Zolpidem (Ambien, Edluar, Intermezzo) work very well at helping you fall asleep, but some people tend to wake up in the center of the night.