There are a lot of things that could be considered a sleep aid, although most of us think of sleeping pills. Before the invention of sleeping pills people had other sleep aids, and although there were various herbs the most common in the ancient world was opium. Using opium, as a sleep aid or otherwise, obviously has a bad effect on one's health but it definitely does put a person to sleep. Other than that people would use alcohol as a sleep aid. Although alcohol can help induce sleep, it generally gives very poor sleep quality and most people could tell you it does not leave you feeling refreshed the next morning. There were other herbal remedies, some effective and some completely ineffective, like lettuce juice
The other alternatives to sleeping pills are more psychological sleep aids than physical ones. Something which produces white noise could be considered a sleep aid. These are particularly helpful if you have noisy neighbors or live next to an airport. White noise is a constant "soft" sound which does not change in volume or tone. A radio put in between stations to produce static is an example of white noise. Warm milk and tea could be considered sleep aids as well.
In our contemporary period the most common sleep aids are all sleeping pills, the use of which is endorsed by some doctors and discouraged by others. The majority of sleeping pills come from a family of drugs called benzodiazepines, like Ativan and Xanax, though newer drugs like Ambien have gained a lot of recent popularity. Before any of these there were very different and more dangerous sleeping pills and sleep aids.
Research into a chemical sleep aid began in the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1805 opium was synthesized for the first time by a chemist named Fredrick Setumer. Although this really isn't an advancement in terms of treating insomnia, it was a big advancement for pharmaceutical chemistry. The development of chloral hydrate soon followed. It is an extremely fast acting sleep aid and was commonly used to put patients to sleep before surgery or a painful dental procedure. There were many legitimate uses for chloral hydrate as a sleep aid and sedative, though it was one of the most misused and abused pharmaceutical products of all time. Though most of us do not immediately recognize the chemical name chloral hydrate, almost everyone is familiar with the phrase "slip a Mickey in a drink". The "Mickey" is chloral hydrate, as the substance is water soluble and has little taste. The use of chloral hydrate, especially with alcohol can cause overdose, and the side effects of using it can be very damaging.
In the nineteenth century the second most common sleeping pills were bromides. Potassium bromide being the most commonly used, it was intended to be used as a treatment for epilepsy. Though it turned out to be rather ineffective in controlling seizures, it caught on as a sleeping pill. The use of bromides and chloral hydrate as sleep aids is an extremely crude ways of inducing sleep and both come with side effects and dangers.
Barbiturates were widely used as sleep aids until the 1970s, and the sleeping pill was originally developed in the 1860s. These sleeping pills act to suppress the central nervous system, and there are a wide variety of drugs which are considered barbiturates, the fast acting ones were used to put patients to sleep before surgery, the slower acting barbiturates were used as sleep aids for those suffering from insomnia. The use of barbiturates as a sleeping pill usually results in a hung over groggy feeling upon waking, and also causes dizziness and confusion. Like most sedatives, barbiturates carry with them the risk of overdose, and barbiturate sleeping pills were commonly mixed with alcohol as a method of suicide.
This brings us back to the development and use of benzodiazepines as sleep aids, but many of the natural remedies are still some of the safest and most effective. Of course very few people would use opium as a sleep aid, but there are supplements available which take the best herbs for inducing sleep from around the world and concentrate them into different supplements. St John's Wort and Valerian root are two great examples of herbs used in sleep aids and have been clinically proven to have a positive effect on insomnia. Herbal sleep aid should be considered before using pharmaceutical sleeping pills because of the side effects, risk of dependency and addiction as well as risk of overdose associated with prescription sleeping pills.