10 Ways to Get Better Sleep (and Maybe Cure Your Insomnia)

Try not to self-medicate.

(Henrik Winther/iStockphoto)

"I personally don't recommend that people just go out and treat themselves with over-the-counter medications," says Kryger. "They never solve the problem; they'll just help you get through." Pharmacies certainly offer lots of sleep remedies. There are antihistamines, like Benadryl, which have a sedative side effect. (The ingredient that causes drowsiness is also found in products like Tylenol PM and Advil PM.) But those medications can induce next-day grogginess—what some patients call "sleep hangovers"—and they can actually have an alerting or a disorienting effect on the elderly, says Shives. Other OTC options include melatonin supplements and valerian extracts, although evidence of the effectiveness of either is slim, a National Institutes of Health insomnia consensus panel concluded in 2005. And, as Shives says of melatonin, valerian, and similar substances, "Nobody's regulating this stuff."