Somnology
Pharmacological treatments are used to chemically treat sleep disturbances such as insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness. The kinds of drugs used to treat sleep disorders include: anticonvulsants, anti-narcoleptics, anti-Parkinsonian drugs, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics, and opiates as well as the hormone melatonin and melatonin receptor stimulators. Anticonvulsants, opiates, and anti-Parkinsonian drugs are often used to treat restless legs syndrome. Furthermore, melatonin, benzodiazepines hypnotics, and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics may be used to treat insomnia. Finally, anti-narcoleptics help treat narcolepsy and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Insomnia
With this technique, it is difficult to distinguish lack of sleep caused by a disorder which is also a cause of premature death, versus a disorder which causes a lack of sleep, and the lack of sleep causing premature death. Most of the increase in mortality from severe insomnia was discounted after controlling for co-morbid disorders. After controlling for sleep duration and insomnia, use of sleeping pills was also found to be associated with an increased mortality rate.