There are many prescription sleep aid's available to those who find themselves awake at 2 a.m. watching yet another infomercial for something that is starting to sound like a good idea. In addition, there are commercials for prescription sleep aids at that time of night, urging an individual to ask their doctor for these prescription drugs to help them fall asleep and stay asleep longer.

There is a lot of conflicting information about the effectiveness of sleeping pills. Sleep aids are best used as a temporary, short-term fix rather than a long-term dependency for insomniacs. Some sleeping pills can cause addiction and that in itself is a hard cycle to break.

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Here are just a few sleeping pills side effects you need to be aware of, with respect to some 'prescription' sleeping pills:

Side effects - there are many different side effects to sleep medications such as daytime drowsiness from the next day, dry mouth, forgetfulness and confusion. Some of these side effects can be severe. This can be seen in Rozerem side effects, Ambien side effects and Lunesta side effects.

Rebound insomnia - if for some reason your doctor should want you to stop the prescription sleep aid, at times the insomnia could become even worse than before.

Withdrawal symptoms - if an individual work to stop taking asleep medication suddenly, they may experience withdrawal symptoms like shaking, nausea and sweating.

Drug interactions - be careful if you are taking other medications, sleep medications will interact with them. This can often worsen the side effects and become dangerous with such medications as sedatives and other prescription pain killers.

Masking an underlying problem - there could be an underlying mental or medical disorder, or even a sleep disorder, that if treated would provide more relief for the insomnia than simply throwing pills at it. Having a sleep study done through a sleep study clinic would be able to diagnose a sleep disorder.

Drug dependence - an individual may come to rely on their sleep medication and may be unable to fall asleep or sleep without it.

Drug tolerance - an individual may need to take more and more of the sleep made in order for it to work, which often leads to more side effects.

There are many different types of prescription sleep aid medications on the market today. They are classified as sedative hypnotics and in general they work on receptors in the brain to slow down the nervous system to induce and maintain sleep. Some of these prescription sleep aids are used primarily to induce sleep while others are used primarily to maintain sleep; some stating your system a long time, while others only have a half-life and an individual would need a separate prescription drug to maintain sleep. Some are habit forming or addictive while others contained no ingredients that would cause a person to crave the prescription sleep aid night after night.

NOTE: You can also try non-prescription over the counter sleeping pills which don't have the same side effects as prescription pills and can be justa s effective.

There are two types of prescription sleep aids, one is Benzodiazepines and the other is non-Benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are the oldest group of sleep medications and post the highest risk of dependency.

Non-Benzodiazepines are prescribed more frequently and do not have the same chemical makeup yet still act on the same portion of the brain to with sleep. This drug has fewer side affects when used long-term.

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Important Note: While the FDA considers many natural and herbal supplements as GRAS - generally recognized as safe - it is best to consult with your health care provider if you have any questions about possible side effects, medical complications or drug interactions with your prescription medication.