WASHINGTON (Cox News Service) -- Too many people rely on sleeping pills and use them for too long, according to the September edition of Consumer Reports.

A nationwide survey by the magazine in April found that 44 percent of Americans are problem sleepers, meaning they have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or wake up too early at least eight nights per month.

The survey of 1,466 adults, conducted by the magazine's National Research Center, also found that one in five Americans took prescription or over-the-counter drugs at least once a week to help them sleep and 24 percent became dependent on the medication they used.

Last year, 24 million prescriptions were written for the four best selling sleep drugs. The two most heavily advertised prescription drug campaigns last year -- at a cost of $500 million -- were sleep aids Lunesta and Ambien CR.

"What people don't realize is these medications can pose a host of side effects including daytime drowsiness, even bizarre behavior like sleep-walking, sleep-eating, and sleep-driving," Tod Marks, senior editor at Consumer Reports, said in a statement.

A parallel survey analyzing the experiences of 2,021 problem sleepers found sound machines to be a viable alternative to drugs, with 70 percent of those who tried them saying they helped most nights. A sound machine is a stereo device that emits various noises meant to help gently coax a person to sleep. The noises can range from basic static to the sounds of a heartbeat or rainforest.

The magazines assembled a dozen panelists who tested three machines, ranging from $20 to $129.

The magazine report also suggested alternatives to drugs such as muscle relaxation, changing mattresses, avoiding food and alcohol before bedtime and keeping a steady bedtime and wake-up time.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times News Service. All rights reserved.