If you have problems falling asleep or regulating sleep, it is very possible that you have visited your pharmacy asking for ‘ Sleeping pills ‘ (it is even possible that you have searched for this term in Google). It is perfectly understandable if you do not have objective and quality information, something that we are going to offer you in this article.
If you are looking for what to take to sleep at night, please keep reading. In this article we explain everything so that you can achieve this demanding challenge that you have set for yourself: sleep well (finally).
Sleep well, a must to achieve the desired ‘quality of life’
In the demanding society in which we live, giving 100% is not an option; it is an obligation, both professionally and personally. This often implies a great physical and mental effort that we can only assume if we sleep well (both in number of hours and in quality of sleep).
In this context, what is commonly called ‘quality of life’ –which each one interprets in their own way-, comes to be a balance between professional success, personal stability, availability of free time and health/well-being.
Almost nothing, right? A difficult challenge to achieve, certainly, but one that we will not achieve if we do not sleep well. That’s for sure.
Sleep problems can arise for different reasons; the most frequent of them are situations of punctual or prolonged stress, but also trips or an ‘unordered’ lifestyle (if you’re one of these, you already know what I mean ;)). There are also other more serious reasons, which could require cognitive-behavioral therapy.
One format, different formulations
In general terms, we usually refer to them as pills, but they also have other names, such as tablets or caplets. Be that as it may, using the term ‘sleeping pills’ obviously gives us a generic idea of what we are looking for, but, in technical terms, it is rather useless.
We must be more specific if we want to find the food supplement or medication that suits our needs in terms of solving sleep problems.
Prescription or over-the-counter pills
The first distinction we can make is prescription or non-prescription sleeping pills. Prescription pills, as the name suggests, are medications that are prescribed by a doctor. They are basically benzodiazepines, a drug that we are not going to analyze in this article.
We are going to focus on natural food supplements that can help solve your insomnia problems.
Identify the sleep problem
The first step is to identify well the specific sleeping problem that we suffer from.
The three major problems are conciliation insomnia or problems when falling asleep -that is, getting to sleep-, maintenance insomnia -characterized by the difficulty of maintaining quality sleep and without waking up-, and terminal insomnia, which manifests itself when we wake up too early in the morning.
We must also know if we suffer from transient, subacute or chronic insomnia. If we have doubts in this regard, it is advisable to consult a professional specialist or a pharmacist.
Type of ingredients and their quantity and quality
In the market we can find natural sleeping pills (food supplements) without a prescription with very different profiles and manufactured by top-level laboratories but that use ingredients of very different qualities.
The keys to choosing the sleeping pills that fit our needs are basically 3:
- Ingredients: we must opt for pills with the ‘mix’ of ingredients in its formulation
- Quantity: each laboratory works with certain quantities of each ingredient in each unit (tablet). You must keep this in mind since the dose must be adequate if you want the effect to be optimal.
- Quality: not all laboratories work based on the same quality standards. Our recommendation is that you demand the best of the best.
That said, we are going to expose the main ingredients that you can find in the formulations of the best natural sleeping pills on the market:
- Melatonin (undoubtedly the ‘star’ ingredient of natural sleeping pills. This hormone naturally produced by our body is essential for a healthy sleep cycle)
- Lavender
- Valerian
- Camomile
- california poppy
- passionflower
- L-Tryptophan
- linden
- Hop
- L -Theanine
- Ashwagandha (also known as ‘Indian Ginseng’)
- Gaba
- Magnesium
- vitamin B6
- Zinc
- 5 HTP
- Bacopa Monnieri
In relation to Gluten and Lactose, it is important to mention that some sleeping pills contain them, so if you have any problem with these ingredients, you should check that they are not present in the formulation of the food supplement you choose.
