Does ZzzQuil Really Work?

ZzzQuil is a sleep medication brought to you by Vicks. They’re definitely riding on the success of their NyQuil brand, and hoping to lure people into their new product with a similar name and similar packaging. The big question on everyone’s mind after seeing the commercial is whether or not this can actually work.

Overview
The main draw here is that you’re getting only the sleep benefits that come with taking NyQuil, without it treating any cold symptoms. The idea is you would only uses this when you are having trouble sleeping, and don’t have any other problems to deal with. Apparently there are some people that take NyQuil when they just want to sleep, and this product is hoping to address that problem.

The Claim
The makers of ZzzQuil claim that you are only getting a sleep medication with this, that is non habit forming, and that you can use it when you need to fall asleep reliably, and stay asleep. They say you wake up feeling refreshed, with no grogginess the next day. They say it is for occasional sleeplessness, in shouldn’t be used as a regular way to fall asleep.

The Hype
The product received a nationwide advertising campaign on television, giving it all the hype needed. The commercial shows several different people totally knocked out asleep in their beds. It’s a very effective ad. Also, since it is coming from a trusted brand, it is receiving some trickle down positive benefits because of the brand recognition. Vicks definitely intended this, since they gave it a familiar name, and made it look very similar to a pre-existing product.

The Cost
ZzzQuil comes in a few different forms, and each one has a slightly different price. You can buy it in capsule form, with 48 pills going for $12. You can also buy it in liquid form, with a 12 ounce bottle going for around $8. Compared to other OTC sleep aids, this is competitively priced.

The Commitment
All that’s required on

your part is to take the medicine as directed, before you go to bed. Compared to other methods to help you fall asleep, this is a pretty low commitment level. You may want to try adjusting your sleep environment, drinking herbal teas, or changing your lifestyle so that you are more tired when you go to sleep before resorting to taking medication, even over the counter medication like this.

Evaluation
You’d think that with a proven track record of success with NyQuil that Vicks would have knocked this one out of the park. But what we’re seeing is that they pretty much got it wrong with the pill form, and it seems to work a bit better with the liquid form. There’s nothing even close to a unanimous verdict on this, with naysayers contradicting the positive reviews on the liquid form as well.

With so many causes of sleeplessness it’s not surprising that this doesn’t work for everyone, but if you only suffer from the occasional bout you might get some relief from the liquid form.

The active ingredient in ZzzQuil is Diphenhydramine, which is definitely nothing new to the market, and is the same thing that other sleeps aids use. If you’ve ever tried brands like Tylenol PM, Unisom, Nytol, Excedrin PM or Advil PM, and experienced lousy results, you’ll probably experience lousy results with this as well. But if you’ve had success with these brands and want something that is easier to take, this will likely provide that for you, with its easy to take liquid form.

Just be aware that it also contains High Fructose Corn Syrup, so if you’ve been trying to eliminate that from your diet, it’s an unexpected source.

Final ZzzQuil Review

ZzzQuil is getting our Solid Try rating, based on the number of positive reviews, but you have to be sure that you’ll respond to it before trying it. If you’ve had success with other over the counter sleep aids in the past there is a higher chance that this will work for you as well. But if you are looking at this as a last resort after trying the others, you’re probably setting yourself up for further disappointment, since they did not invent anything new here, and are basically repackaging a drug that has been around for quite some time.

Thumbs up to NyQuil for figuring out a good marketing gimmick, but unfortunately there is little in the way of ingenuity with this, and the same amount of people that rate other sleep aids poorly are also going to give this one the Thumbs Down.

Our Recommendation
Getting to sleep and staying asleep can be tricky business. Take a comprehensive approach to falling asleep and make sure that you have your bedroom set up so that it’s conducive to getting to sleep. You can also follow the steps that the ZzzQuil site provides on how to get a better night’s sleep, as this is pretty solid information and tips.

What do you think? Does ZzzQuil work or not?