Lately I’ve been having difficulty getting to sleep and have found that Diphenhydramine - aka Benadryl - will usually put me out. Thing is, even though I might lose consciousness for 5-6 hours, I don’t feel refreshed or recharged when I awaken. Maybe not as bad as alcohol, but the sort of feeling you get from sleep without an adequate REM cycle. Does anyone know if Diphenhydramine affects or even inhibits REM sleep?
CMC fnord!
Hops, valerian, and passion flower combination herbal sleep aid WORKS … there’s no need to dose yourself with anything else.
I find that taking a good magnesium supplement half an hour before I go to bed works very well.
My SO, who is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in sleep medicine, said (roughly) that Benadryl doesn’t actually alter your sleep architecture with sporadic use, although it can with long-term use. It does have a “hangover” effect - it affects your wakefulness (which is why you fall asleep) but continues to have that effect even after you wake up, which is why you don’t feel well-rested.
Of course, I am not your doctor, and neither is she!
Not in my experience. Try what you want, but this is definitely a case of YMMV.
Take it earlier in the evening.
I don’t need it now, but about ten to a dozen years ago I tried it. No matter the dose or timing, didn’t make a lick of difference to me. I felt exactly the same as not taking it. The only OTC thing I’ve had that usually knocks me on my ass is Benadryl, but it works too well, so I generally try to avoid it unless I’m sick and just want to doze away for hours and don’t care if I’m groggy in the morning. (And I say “usually,” because I’ve had it at times before with no discernible effect, either, but about 80% of the time, it’s significant.)
Especially if you lay still and quiet in a warm, dark room for five or six hours subsequent to ingesting the concoction.
Are there any cites for this? Maybe a study?
Oh, wait, sorry. That may have been a response to the OP, not my post that immediately preceded. Sorry.
This has been my experience as well. If I use it only 1-2 times per week or less, it works pretty well. I wake up and feel well rested. But if I take it a lot in a row, it doesn’t seem to work as well and I don’t feel as good after waking up. I also only take 1 pill rather than 2 to minimze the “hangover” the next day.
There is an herbal remedy which works pretty for giving me restful sleep, but it’s only available in a few states at this time.
You may want to try doxylamine (aka Unisom) instead. I used to rely on diphenhydramine but it really was like taking a sledgehammer to my brain; oftentimes I’d get some sleep but would be so hung over that I couldn’t do anything the next day anyway. Unisom’s a lot less heavy, in my experience, and in fact by cutting the pills in half I get the same amount of sleep with fewer side effects. It’s also in Nyquil and some formulations of Robitussin (which is how I discovered it.)
29 states and a few territories, to be precise. 
Personally I would consult a physician before taking any herbal remedies for two reasons:
- They might interfere with other meds or ongoing medical conditions, and
- Over the counter herbal remedies are notoriously unregulated when it comes to purity and content.
I’ve had to use Unisom (doxylamine) once in a while, and I feel the same way when waking up. I just attributed it to it not being “out of my system” yet.
At what time do you take it, at what time do you go to bed, and at what time do you get up?
Hmmm. Getting an idea for a specialized craft beer…
Benadryl never makes me sleepy. I toad you I was 'pecial.
Going to bed with foam rubber earplugs and an eye mask DEFINITELY helps me fall asleep and stay asleep. Our bedrooms-- hell, our world–is not dark enough or quiet enough to permit sleep. There’s so much ambient light and noise around–and it can ping you just when you’re about to doze off.
Recently I bought one of these sleeping caps, and the effect on my sleep has been better than any drug. I got it to keep from waking up with bed hair (hair sticking up in EVERY possible direction), but the additional feature is that you pull it down over your eyes to make an eye shade. There’s something sooooo comforting about having this soft cap on one’s head. Maybe that feeling is why one of my cats likes to burrow under the covers. However, unlike her, I need air (I believe she is an anaerobic species of feline). As with all the other answers, YMMV.
I’ve been taking it when I go to bed, which is usually around midnight. I’ve been waking up around 6 and feel pretty groggy. I heard it was supposed to go through your system in 4-6 hours.
There are definitely folks for whom it even has a paradoxical effect. My 3-year-old daughter is one of them, or at least seemed to be one of them the last time she had Benadryl at the doctor’s recommendation for runny nose. Had her bouncing off the walls.