Alex Dimitriu is a Stanford-trained physician with dual board certification in psychiatry and sleep medicine. Once given a prescription, be sure to follow the directions given to you by your doctor.ĭr.
If you do find that you’re waking up groggy or that the effects are lasting too long after trying Trazodone for a few days, your doctor may opt to adjust your prescribed dosage or try another sleep treatment altogether.Īs Trazodone is a prescription medication, you should always consult with a doctor before giving it a try for sleep. Most doctors will recommend you try out your first few doses on days when you don’t need to drive anywhere or don’t have any commitments to be anywhere first thing in the morning to help you acclimate. So it’s important to take a few extra precautions until you understand how the medication affects you and for how long. In some cases, you can feel more alert than you actually are. So it’s imperative that you not drive or do anything that requires you to be alert the next morning. However, some people do report feeling groggy the following morning. Most doctors prescribe a low dose of Trazodone to help with sleep, so the medication’s sleep aid effects are usually gone after the first half-life. It’s important to point out that the effects of the prescription won’t necessarily last for that long. This means the medication will most likely stick around in your system for up to the next 40 hours after you’ve taken your dose. Trazodone’s half-life is between 5 and 13 hours.
How Long Does It Take Trazodone To Leave Your System? You should make sure you aren’t driving or doing any other activities that require you to focus after you’ve taken Trazodone. Trazodone has been shown to be fast-acting for many, so it’s important to be done with your day and ready for bed. One important thing to point out here is that you should absolutely only take your prescription right before bed when you don’t have any other obligations to fill for the night. Sounds pretty dreamy after weeks or even months of lackluster rest.
When taken at the dosage given to you, it’ll help you stay asleep for a full 7-9 hours of sleep. When used to treat insomnia, Trazodone should be taken right before bed. And as an extra benefit, unlike some other sleep prescriptions like Ambien, Trazodone has a low risk of dependency and isn’t listed as a controlled substance.īelow we’ll dive a little deeper into what to expect if you’re given a Trazodone prescription by your doctor, including how long the medication lasts. Trazodone is a prescription medication that’s often prescribed by doctors in cases exactly like these – in instances where our sleeplessness still prevails well past everything else you’ve tried.Īn anti-depressant that’s most often used to minimize symptoms of anxiety and depression, the calming side effects of Trazodone have made it an effective sleep option for many. This is especially true when despite experimenting with sleep hygiene and over-the-counter sleep aids, we’re still wide awake. Insomnia can push our bodies to the limit, cripple our energy levels, and use up what’s left of our mental power. Exhausted out of our minds but still somehow unable to fall asleep.