Insomnia | Dr. Patty's Chronic-Intractable Pain and You Sites, Inc.

A sleepless night or two can leave you so tired and miserable that it can be tempting to take a medication that promises to help you slip into slumber. But the truth is that sleeping pills like Ambien and Lunesta don’t actually improve your sleep much, according to a Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs analysis, and the newest insomnia medication, Belsomra (suvorexant), is no exception.

It might help you nod off a few minutes faster or stay asleep slightly longer. But that small benefit comes with some big safety concerns, such as being too drowsy to drive the next day or feeling like you can’t move or talk.

We were prompted to take a close look at Belsomra, which is made by Merck, because it’s a new type of sleeping pill called an orexin-receptor antagonist. It acts on the brain in a different way compared to older insomnia meds. The Food and Drug Administration initially rejected high doses of Belsomra—30 mg and 40 mg—because it said they posed a dangerous risk of next-day drowsiness that could lead to deadly auto crashes.

Psychological Approaches for Insomnia

Among the most common psychological techniques used to help with sleep problems are relaxation training, meditation, hypnosis, and cognitive restructuring. These techniques are similar to those used for stress management as well as chronic pain management, and rely on a common set of skills:
Deep muscle relaxation
Focus elsewhere rather than on the pain
Visual, sound, or other relaxing sensory imagery
Distancing oneself from the chronic pain
These skills, coupled with the deep breathing technique discussed next, can be very beneficial in improving sleep and decreasing the perception of pain by retraining the brain. Many of these skills are coupled with exercise in techniques such as yoga and Tai Chi.

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