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Tossing, turning, staring at the ceiling…insomnia can make bedtime feel like torment when rest is nowhere to be found. As anyone who struggles with sleep troubles knows, a lack of quality Zzz’s takes both a physical and emotional toll.
You’re not alone in your frustration. In fact, around 30% of American adults deal with occasional insomnia. And when counting chronic cases, the numbers rise even higher.
The good news? Help exists – including relief found right in our own bodies. Keep reading to learn how the hormone melatonin works, who can benefit from taking it, and how to naturally promote sound slumber through healthy lifestyle choices.
Ever wonder what controls our sleep/wake cycles? The answer lies with the brain’s pineal gland and a key hormone it produces called melatonin. Light exposure impacts melatonin levels, causing them to rise in the evening and fall in the morning. Known as our “biological clock,” this daily dance cues when we naturally become sleepy…or energetic.
When everything is working properly, melatonin ensures we drift off once our surroundings dim at bedtime. Its effects help us stay settled into restorative sleep until daylight peeks through again. However, this hardwired system doesn’t always cooperate in our modern, fast-paced world.
While melatonin aims to protect normal circadian rhythms, numerous issues can throw the process out of whack. Common culprits behind sleeplessness include:
Streetlights, device screens, and other artificial light sources block natural melatonin production, making it challenging to wind down before bed.
Hectic schedules filled with work deadlines, financial worries, relationship issues, or other pressures frequently keep brains too wired to relax into sleep.
Medical conditions like chronic pain, asthma, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and gastrointestinal problems often interfere with falling and staying asleep.
Insomnia commonly accompanies conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
When melatonin levels drop or don’t peak as expected, sleep suffers as a result. The dilemma worsens when people turn to quick-fix solutions for relief.
There are many over-the-counter and prescription medicines that doctors may recommend and which are often beneficial. However, pharmaceutical sleep products come with notable risks. These include troublesome side effects, abnormal sleep behaviors, dependence, tolerance issues and withdrawal symptoms. Always best to discuss anything you may notice or feel with your doctor.
What’s more, many sleep medicines fail to generate truly restful slumber. Rather than facilitating regenerative stages of deep and REM sleep, they often lead to a decreased-quality forced, pseudo-sleep.
Given the drawbacks of medications, safe yet effective alternatives have clear appeal. That’s where supplemental melatonin shines.
“As melatonin levels rise, it puts you into a state of quiet wakefulness that helps promote sleep,” explains Johns Hopkins sleep expert Luis F. Buenaver, Ph.D., C.B.S.M.
As an inherently gentle compound already produced in our bodies, melatonin avoids the downsides of synthetic options. It simply augments existing processes to help stabilize sleep patterns. The key is using an appropriately small dose at the right time.
While melatonin gets credited for inducing sleep, its actual role involves regulating internal clock mechanisms to make rest possible. Instead of immediately causing drowsiness, melatonin sets the stage for sleep by dialing down alertness as bedtime approaches.
For best results, take melatonin about 30-60 minutes before your desired sleep time. This allows adequate lead time for blood levels to peak and for sleep-inducing effects to unfold.
Because everyone’s response differs based on factors like age, health status and sensitivity, it’s smart to start low when adding melatonin. Begin with just 0.5 milligrams (500 micrograms), then go up to 1 or 3 milligrams if needed, to a max of generally 10 milligrams. There’s rarely an advantage to exceeding this dosage. 3 milligrams is the most common dose.
While melatonin is available in doses up to 10 milligrams, always consult your healthcare provider before using supplements long-term, especially if pregnant, nursing, taking other medicines or managing a medical condition.
If you deal with:
…then melatonin may help normalize your sleep cycle.
Research also shows that melatonin relieves preoperative nerves and post-procedure delirium in hospital patients. It likewise demonstrates anxiety-reducing effects.
By working in conjunction with natural biorhythms, melatonin allows both body and mind to relax into the restoration they desperately need.
MYTH: Taking melatonin regularly will make your body produce less of its own.
FACT: Melatonin doesn’t suppress or reduce your body’s capacity to make the hormone. Supplemental melatonin just gives your natural production an extra boost when needed.
MYTH: The higher the dose, the better you’ll sleep.
FACT: When it comes to melatonin, less is often more. For many people, just .5 to 3 milligrams taken 30-60 minutes before bed is adequate to help initiate healthy sleep cycles. Start low and go slow when increasing dosage, with 10 milligrams as the ceiling for added benefit.
MYTH: Melatonin is a sedative that makes you fall asleep instantly.
FACT: Melatonin doesn’t immediately induce sleep. Instead, it helps regulate the overall sleep/wake cycle so rest can happen more easily at appropriate times. It may take over an hour for drowsiness to occur after taking it.
MYTH: Melatonin is safe for children to use regularly.
FACT: While some pediatricians allow occasional melatonin use for kids, regular reliance could impact normal development. Children naturally make adequate melatonin and usually don’t need supplementation. Lifestyle adjustments are better to promote healthy sleep in children.
MYTH: Taking melatonin will give you wild, vivid dreams.
FACT: While anecdotal reports link melatonin and strange dreams, studies don’t show routine dream enhancement or disturbance. However, melatonin does seem to support quality REM sleep needed for normal dream activity.
MYTH: Eating melatonin-rich foods boosts the hormone enough to improve sleep.
FACT: Dietary melatonin from foods like cherries, grapes and walnuts gets broken down too rapidly once eaten and fails to significantly increase melatonin levels enough to influence sleep. Supplements in proper doses, at the proper time, work far better.
While supplemental melatonin can provide welcome relief for those struggling with sleep issues, it works best as part of a comprehensive self-care plan. Be sure to also focus on the following healthy sleep hygiene habits:
By taking a holistic approach, you can set the stage for melatonin supplementation to work its magic even better. Sweet dreams ahead!
If you regularly struggle to fall or stay asleep, melatonin may help restore your natural sleep-wake cycle. This gentle, naturally-occurring hormone signals your brain when it’s time to relax and recharge each night. It avoids the troublesome side effects of sleep medications and helps many people sleep soundly.
For best results, start with a low dose of .5 to 3 milligrams, take it 30-60 minutes before your target bedtime and stick to healthy sleep habits daily. Here’s to drifting off to your dreamland with ease!
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