Americans are plagued by sleeping problems. Many people can't go to sleep or stay asleep.

Drug makers have a range of prescription products that promise to help. But you're not supposed to take most sleep drugs for more than a couple of weeks or so.

"Drugs are only effective short term and they have a lot of side-effects, so they're only solving their problem temporarily and they're doing so at a high price," says Dr. John Santa, director of the Health Ratings Center at Consumer Reports.

"The people who take drugs every day have a significant incidence of severe side effects: sleep walking, sleep eating, and the one that scares me the most, sleep driving."

Santa says there are some very effective non-drug treatments, such as behavioral therapy - changing your habits, sound machines, and getting a chronic condition treated if it's the cause of your insomnia.

"If you have chronic pain, if you have chronic anxiety or depression, those are what you should be getting prescription drugs for."

For More Information:

The trouble with drugs

How did you sleep last night?