New Sleeping Pill: Beneficial or Unhealthy?

A new sleeping pill, Intermezzo, was released Thursday, that may help alleviate insomnia for people who cannot stay asleep after taking long-term sleeping pills.

Intermezzo can be taken in the middle of the night to aid with short-term sleeping.

Purdue Pharma Officials said in a statement that the drug is "the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed for the treatment of insomnia when a middle-of-the-night awakening is followed by difficulty returning to sleep."

"People shouldn't be under the illusion that when they take the sleep pills, they're getting normal sleep," UCLA sleep expert Jerry Siegel commented.

The most common side effects include headaches, nausea and fatigue.

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