Do sleep medications actually improve recovery, or do they mostly just make you sleep longer?

I've been wondering about the difference between being sedated/asleep and actually getting restorative sleep.

A lot of medications can make it easier to fall asleep, reduce awakenings, or increase total sleep time. But I'm curious whether that necessarily translates into better recovery.

For people who have used medications for insomnia — whether antidepressants, antihistamines, antipsychotics, Z-drugs, or other sleep medications — did you notice improvements beyond simply sleeping more?

For example:

• Did you actually feel more rested and functional during the day?
• Did your mood, anxiety, concentration, or overall mental health improve?
• Did you feel like your body was genuinely recovering better over weeks or months?
• Or did it sometimes feel more like the medication was just "knocking you out," without giving you the same benefit as naturally good sleep?

I'm also curious about the longer-term tradeoff. If a medication improves sleep and therefore improves your overall functioning and mental health, do you feel those benefits outweigh the medication's side effects?

Obviously this is very individual and I'm not looking for medical advice — I'm mainly interested in people's experiences with the difference between more sleep and actually feeling more recovered because of that sleep.