![]() ![]() Second, although diphenhydramine might make you feel drowsy and help you fall asleep faster, it often causes next-day drowsiness and a hangover-like feeling in the morning. We’ve explained the reasoning behind this a little further down the page. Unfortunately, although diphenhydramine may be effective at inducing sleep, it has several side effects that make it a poor sleep aid overall.įirst, diphenhydramine is only safe to use as a sleep aid in the short term. ![]() In short, there’s a reasonable amount of scientific evidence showing that diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl and several other allergy medications, could make it easier to fall asleep if you’re prone to insomnia.Įxplore Support Groups Downsides of Using Benadryl for Sleep Numerous studies of diphenhydramine show that it’s effective as an over-the-counter sleep aid for treating insomnia.įor example, a 1983 study found that people with mild to moderate insomnia fell asleep faster after using diphenhydramine compared to a placebo, and reported a higher level of restfulness, despite experiencing some side effects.Īnother study from 1990 on psychiatric patients found that diphenhydramine improved sleep in people with insomnia when given at a range of doses, all without any symptoms suggestive of drug dependence. You can also find diphenhydramine in a lot of other common medications, including Advil PM®, Midol PM®, Motrin PM®, Sudafed PE Day/Night Cold® and certain cough medicines. By binding to the brain’s H1 histamine receptors, medications containing diphenhydramine not only make it easier to deal with cold symptoms, but can also make you feel drowsy and ready to sleep.īenadryl isn’t the only cold and allergy medication that contains diphenhydramine. Interestingly, histamine is also responsible for regulating your sleep-wake cycle. By blocking the effects of histamine, it makes the symptoms of allergies or a cold less severe and easier to deal with. This is why Benadryl is often used to treat allergies and cold symptoms. When you feel sick or have an allergic reaction, histamine’s effects on your body may cause you to develop a runny nose, itchy skin, watery eyes and other common allergy symptoms. Histamine mediates your body’s response to allergens by triggering an inflammatory response in your body’s nasal mucosa. It’s also used for certain cold symptoms, motion sickness and, in some cases, as a treatment for sleep difficulties.ĭiphenhydramine works by blocking the effects of histamine - a neurotransmitter responsible for numerous processes in the body. Diphenhydramine is an old, well-studied medication that first came onto the market in the 1940s and has been widely used in the decades since.ĭiphenhydramine is typically used to treat the effects of allergies. It contains an active ingredient called diphenhydramine. How Benadryl Makes Sleeping Easierīenadryl is a type of medication called an antihistamine. We’ve also listed a range of safer, healthier alternatives to Benadryl that can help you fall asleep if you’re prone to difficulty sleeping. Not only are they less effective than other sleep aids, but they may also be more likely to lower your sleep quality and cause certain side effects.īelow, we’ve dug into the data behind how Benadryl and other antihistamines cause you to fall asleep easier. However, they aren’t the best option for treating insomnia. That's where the association comes from - because of the tight association between antihistamines like Benadryl and drowsiness, it's a pretty common connection people experiencing light levels of insomnia make to help them curb their sleep problems. Although antihistamines aren’t designed to treat insomnia, the drowsiness they induce may make it easier to fall asleep, making them a convenient now-and-then treatment option that most people already have inside their medicine cabinet.īenadryl is a popular first-generation antihistamine that does cause drowsiness as a side effect, partly because it's less likely to affect the natural histamine produced by our brain. ![]()
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