"i have tried a number of herbs, supplements, otc and prescription medications for insomnia, including hops, passionflower, valerian, kava kava, melatonin, gaba, 5-htp, l-tryptophan, benadryl, unisom, klonopin, ativan, and ambien, and have found that trazodone is the best for me.  the herbs and supplements weren&#039;t strong enough, melatonin gave me horrible nightmares, otc sleep aids made me too drowsy the next day, and the benzos and ambien stopped working.  i take 50 mg of trazodone before bed and fall asleep in about half an hour.  it&#039;s true i am a bit drowsy the next morning but it soon goes away and the drowsiness is less intense than the drowsiness from the other kinds of medicines i have tried.  trazodone is also very inexpensive."