Summary: Insomnia is a disorder in which patients finds their sleep insufficient or of poor quality. The cause is usually difficulty in falling asleep, inability to maintain sleep, early morning waking, or a sense of the lack of regeneration after waking up. Therapy should be tailored to the type of insomnia, its etiology and duration. It may include drug-free methods and pharmacological ones. In the case of occasional and short-term insomnia, the basic form of treatment is pharmacotherapy with GABA receptor agonists which are second-generation hypnotic drugs. These include zopiclone, zolpidem and zaleplon. In the short-term treatment of insomnia they should be the first choice therapy in both the GP and specialist practice.