Do not attempt to drive or perform other activities that require concentration after taking an insomnia medication as the medication will make you sleepy.

Benzodiazepines: These older sleeping pills (Halcion, Restoril, and others) are useful when you want an insomnia medication that stays in your system longer.

All insomnia medications should be taken shortly before bed.

Sales of Ambien and Lunesta exceeded $3 billion in this country last year, and nearly 60 million prescriptions for insomnia medications were dispensed.

Particular concern is focused on those insomnia medications that act on GABA, a brain neurotransmitter that inhibits the nervous system.

Talk to your pharmacist before taking other over-the-counter cough, cold, allergy, or insomnia medications.

It has been claimed that insomnia causes depression and hypothesized that insomnia medications may help to treat depression.

Rozerem, an insomnia medication just approved by the F.D.A. in July for use in adults, may have an even more selective effect on the brain.

There were 43 million prescriptions issued for insomnia medications during 2005 in the USA which generated a total of $2.7 billion for pharmaceutical companies.

The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine published a paper which had carried out a systematic review of the medical literature concerning insomnia medications including eszopiclone.