Below are the names of a range of different sleeping pills. Listed for each sleeping pill are the commonly used brand names, the half-life (how long it takes for your body to remove half of the medication) and the commonly used dosages.

The information in the tables was collated from a variety of sources. I am not medically trained and cannot validate their accuracy.

Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines first became available as a sleeping aid in the early 70s. They gradually improved over the next 10 years and have been used ever since.

They were developed to replace barbiturates. These were dangerously addictive drugs with a variety of unpleasant side effects. They could easily cause death when taken with alcohol.

Benzodiazepines all have around the same level of effectiveness. The key difference is how long they stay in your body after taking them.

Z Drugs

Z drugs were developed in the 90s, billed as the next generation of sleeping pills.

Z drugs were designed to leave the body quicker to limit the hangover effect. They were said to limit all the unwanted side effects whilst still being equally as good at sending you to sleep.

Recent research however has shown that z drugs share many of the same long term health concerns as the benzodiazepines they were intended to replace. They were never the miracle drug its founders had in mind.

Antidepressants

Sometimes depression medication is prescribed to be used as a sleeping aid. Some, but not all depression medication have a sedating effect that causes drowsiness.

The advantages of depression medication over regular sleeping pills are that it doesn’t disrupt the quality of sleep. You don’t become physically addicted to it and there’s no rebound insomnia when you stop taking it. The downside is that you’re more likely to experience daytime sleepiness, even on low doses.