Have you ever wondered about melatonin? It's a hormone produced by the body to help regulate our sleep, and it's naturally found in many foods. It is often used as a dietary supplement because it can help induce sleep, reduce the time it takes to fall asleep, and increase the quality of sleep.
However, there are some side effects associated with melatonin supplementation that make it less appealing than other remedies for insomnia.
What is melatonin?
First things first, what is melatonin and how does it affect sleep? Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in response to darkness. The pineal gland secretes melatonin into your bloodstream, where it circulates through every part of your body.
Melatonin is also a neurotransmitter—a chemical that transmits nerve signals between neurons (nerve cells). When you're exposed to light at night, your brain stops producing melatonin because there's no point in keeping those levels high if they're going to wake you up from sleep anyway!
Is it true that only humans benefit from taking melatonin?
The short answer is no. Melatonin is a hormone that our bodies produce naturally and it’s found in many animals and plants. In fact, most living things produce it to some degree because it serves so many functions throughout the animal kingdom.
Melatonin has been studied extensively as an antioxidant, but its importance can’t be fully appreciated until you understand how widespread its effects are on other species.
It’s also worth noting that while melatonin was discovered in 1958 by scientists working with chickens (who were trying to figure out why the birds had trouble sleeping), this compound has been observed since at least the time of Hippocrates (the father of western medicine) around 400 BC!
Are there side effects to taking melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the body and, like many other hormones, can be taken as a supplement. It’s often used to help with sleep problems and jet lag.
However, it should be noted that melatonin has some side effects that you should be aware of before taking it.
The main side effect of melatonin is drowsiness. If you take melatonin and then drive or operate heavy machinery after using it, you could become very sleepy or have trouble concentrating on driving/heavy machinery operations due to your drowsiness. Headaches are also common; research suggests that as many as 57% of people who use melatonin experience headaches within seven days of taking the medication (or over half!). Other common symptoms include nausea (35%), irritability (27%), dizziness (23%), vomiting (20%) and heart palpitations or racing heart rate (19%).
If you are supplementing with melatonin, do you need less sleep?
Since melatonin supplements help you fall asleep faster, you may be tempted to take them and think that you will then need less sleep overall. However, if a person is supplementing with melatonin and they are still getting a good 7-8 hours of sleep each night, they should not expect any changes in how they feel after taking the supplement. In other words: just because you're falling asleep faster doesn't mean that your body requires less total time in bed.
Does melatonin work for anyone and everyone?
Does melatonin cure insomnia?
No! Melatonin is not a cure for sleep problems. It can help you get to sleep, but if you are waking up during the night or having trouble falling asleep, melatonin won’t fix that. You need to take care of what's causing your sleeplessness in order to fix it.
Does melatonin cure sleep deprivation?
No! Melatonin does not work overnight like a sleeping pill will do—it takes several hours for your body to feel its effects and most people will still wake up after taking it at bedtime (even though they feel tired). Some research shows that taking a dose of 0.5 mg before bedtime can help with jet lag when traveling across many time zones because your brain has been tricked into thinking that it’s nighttime where you just landed instead of where you were before leaving on your trip. But beware: If taken late at night, this dose might make some people feel groggy when they wake up early in the morning due to jet lag and their bodies' actions being out-of-sync with their circadian rhythms
So, what's the verdict? Does melatonin work for sleep? Well, I think it depends on the reason you're taking it. If your insomnia is caused by a hormone imbalance like menopause or peri-menopause, then melatonin might help. On the other hand, if you're having trouble sleeping because of anxiety or stress, melatonin probably won't do much for you.
I would recommend trying some other options first since there are so many different types of anxiety and stress that affect people in different ways (and therefore require different treatments). But if nothing else works for you and your doctor says it's okay to try this option out, then go ahead!
Comments