jenk

Rozerem, with the "your dreams miss you" ads, "costs about $3.50 a pill; gets you to sleep 7 to 16 minutes faster than a placebo, or fake pill; and increases total sleep time 11 to 19 minutes." Yet people report that it gives them (on average) 30 minutes more sleep than is observed under lab conditions. Why?

Most sleeping pills work on the same brain receptors as drugs to treat anxiety. By reducing anxiety, the pills may make people worry less about not going to sleep. So they feel better.

Another theory about the discrepancy between measured sleep and perceived sleep involves a condition called anterograde amnesia. While under the influence of most sleep medications, people have trouble forming memories. When they wake up, they may simply forget they had trouble sleeping.
- NY Times

I think this is why people think alcohol will help them sleep, even tho labwork shows you wake up after it wears off. They don't necessarily remember waking up as clearly as they do falling asleep.