Many suffering from insomnia will turn to prescription pills or over the counter PM medicinal options. These work great for getting you to sleep and keeping you there. But many are habit forming and are not a natural, consistent solution to curing insomnia.

Using depressants to fall asleep often have to habitually be used for consistent results. Once the user stops using the sleep aid, falling asleep is usually much harder than it was before they started using. This is similar to the effects alcoholism has on sleep patterns. Alcohol- also a depressant- not only accelerates fatigue (this is why alcohol makes you pass out) it actually alters your brain chemistry. These are similar to the effects of certain sleep aids.

Referred to as onset insomnia, insomnia resulting from substance dependence in one form or another could take months and even years to overcome. Studies actually indicate onset insomnia is actually much harder to overcome than genetic or habitual insomnia.  Impacting your central nervous system, depressants deplete the users’ ability to independently produce dopamine.

Falling asleep and staying asleep is much more difficult to an individual physically dependent on depressants without the acquired dependence on a fatigue accelerant. That’s because adequate sleep is highly dependent and regulated with healthy dopamine levels in glands regulating circadian rhythms, or your sleep cycles.

Among the best ways to increase your dopamine levels- a deficiency present in even insomniacs without dependence issues- is acupuncture. Acupuncture releases dopamine in the body to relieve pain, tension, reduce stress and regulate circadian rhythms. This subsequently alleviates insomnia. It is a great option for not only relieving insomnia, but substance abuse for this very reason. 
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