Handouts · Medications
Sleep Medications (“Z-Drugs”)
Includes zolpidem (Ambien), eszopiclone (Lunesta), and zaleplon (Sonata). Helpful short-term for insomnia; best paired with good sleep habits.
What This Group Is
These medicines help you fall asleep and are meant for short-term or occasional use.
They work best alongside sleep hygiene — consistent schedule, dark cool room, and limiting screens and caffeine.
How to Take It
Take right before bed, only when you can devote a full 7–8 hours to sleep.
Take on an empty stomach — food delays how fast it works. Do not take a second dose in the same night.
Black Box Warning
These can cause complex sleep behaviors — sleep-walking, sleep-driving, or eating/making calls while not fully awake, with no memory of it. These have caused serious injuries and deaths.
Stop the medicine and tell us if you ever do any activity while not fully awake.
Common (Usually Mild) Side Effects
- Drowsiness and dizziness.
- Headache.
- Next-morning grogginess — can impair driving.
- A metallic or bitter taste (eszopiclone).
Serious — Call Us or Seek Care
- Any sleep-driving or other complex sleep behavior.
- Strong next-day impairment affecting driving or work.
- Trouble breathing, especially with other sedatives.
- Needing more to get the same effect, or trouble stopping (dependence).
Alcohol
Do not combine with alcohol or other sedatives — this greatly increases next-day impairment and complex sleep behaviors, and can slow breathing.
Monitoring
No blood tests are needed. We’ll reassess whether you still need it and use the lowest effective dose — lower doses are advised for women and older adults (zolpidem).