THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE I WILL NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR DAMAGES OR GAINS
If your sleep is cooked, your face is too.
Chronic insomnia isn't just "feeling tired." It means worse skin, more facial bloat, darker under-eyes, higher cortisol, lower test, worse gym recovery, slower collagen production and generally looking less healthy.
"Just fix your sleep hygiene bro."
Yeah, if your sleep is only mildly fucked, CBT-I and proper sleep hygiene are worth trying first.
But if you've had actual chronic insomnia, you already know that "put your phone away" and "take melatonin" is complete cope. Once your brain gets stuck in hyperarousal, the NPC advice stops working.
I've dealt with insomnia for years and tried basically everything. This isn't medical advice, just a breakdown of the main options.
Benzos / Z-drugs
They work. Fast.Also the easiest way to speedrun tolerance, dependence and rebound insomnia. Good for emergencies or flights, terrible as a nightly solution.
Sedating antidepressants
Probably the biggest sleeper pick.Low-dose trazodone and mirtazapine improve sleep continuity without the same addiction risk as benzos. Personally, 25 mg trazodone mogged every supplement I'd wasted money on.
Quetiapine
Knocks most people out at low doses, but it's not really meant to be a routine insomnia med. Worth discussing with your psychiatrist if nothing else works, but I wouldn't start here.Pregabalin / Gabapentin
Solid if your insomnia comes with anxiety or chronic pain. If that's not your issue, there are usually better choices.Melatonin
Inb4 the melatonin bros.Great for jet lag or certain circadian rhythm issues.
For chronic insomnia? Massively overrated.
Daridorexant
Probably the biggest upgrade we've had in sleep meds.Instead of sedating your whole brain like benzos, it blocks the orexin system that keeps you awake. Better sleep, more natural sleep architecture and far less dependence potential.
TL
Sleep is one of the biggest looksmax pillars and people still treat it like an afterthought.You can't out-skincare chronic sleep deprivation.
Fix your sleep and everything else starts working better.