Modern sleeping pills can help to knock you out, but as Trace Dominguez of DNews explains, this is not actually sleep. There is a big difference between going to sleep and being knocked unconscious and just because you’re lying down and not moving, it doesn’t mean that your brain is doing what it is supposed to during the sleep cycle. Without going through the full sleep cycle it is unclear that your brain (and the rest of your parts) get the full benefit.
Even the “natural” solutions such as Melatonin has potential problems and what benefits it does have appear to be psychological.