Sleeping Tablets

How does sleep medication work?

Some of our sleeping pills contain the active ingredient diphenhydramine hydrochloride. Diphenhydramine hydrochloride is an antihistamine which has drowsy, sedative effects which can also be used for allergies. Due to its sedative properties it can help to relax and calm people before bed, allowing them to easily fall asleep.

Other sleep aids in our range include herbal sleeping tablets. These herbal sleeping aids contain natural ingredients such as valerian root extract and hop strobile, which encourage sleep, reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep as well as helping you to remain asleep and helping you to feel relaxed and relieve feelings of stress and anxiety.

To increase your chances of feeling well rested when you wake, you should follow a night time hygiene routine which will help you to drift off quicker.

Good sleep hygiene habits:

1. Establish a regular sleep routine – do this by ensuring you are in bed with lights out at approximately the same time every night as well as including a time to regularly get up. Some peoples body clocks naturally wake them in the morning, however if you’re body enjoys a lie in, you should consider setting an alarm to ensure you are keeping to this schedule.
2. No alcohol or caffeine before bed – it makes sense not to drink caffeine before going to bed as this will only make your brain active and make it harder to drift off, however avoiding alcohol is also suggested for a restful night as alcohol may help you to feel drowsy and help you to initially fall asleep, it can also cause sleep disruption and cause you to wake in the night.
3. Exercise – it is recommended you exercise 3-5 times a week to lead a healthy lifestyle but to also encourage good sleep. If you exercise too late in the day though, this could lead to problems relaxing before bed, so best to avoid exercising late in the evening.
4. Electronics – we all like to scroll through our phones, tablets or computers, however doing this close to bed time can cause your brain to struggle to switch off. This is because the blue light emitted by these supresses the production on melatonin which is the chemical in our bodies which helps us to sleep.

You can follow these steps to make it easier to fall asleep at night however insomnia, stress and hot flushes/night sweats from menopause can contribute to disrupted sleep despite following these which is when sleeping tablets come in use.

If it is noises that are keeping you up in the night, you can also try ear plugs or our snoring remedies for a quiet night.