"i take ambien once a night...so long as i don&#039;t eat 2 hours or less before i take it...it seems to work great. i get a good 9 hours sleep. if i eat after i take it then it only makes me sleepy..not enough to fall asleep. so i don&#039;t eat before or after and i have great results. when i first started taking ambien, i had bad dreams and nightmare. i even sleep walk and drive and did not remember a thing...but that stopped about 2 years after taking them..scary! you have to control the medicine..not let it control you. i&#039;ve been taking since 1997 and still taking them."