Melatonin: not so great?
Here’s an article saying that melatonin has not been shown to help with chronic insomnia:
In a culture that believes there’s a pill for every problem, melatonin seems just what the doctor ordered. It’s a natural hormone whose production the body increases in response to darkness and decreases whenever there’s light. It works to regulate the body’s 24-hour internal clock, also known as circadian rhythms. Decades ago, travelers embraced it as a proven way to recover from jet lag. It’s easy to see how such a pill transformed from a treatment for the ravages of long plane rides into a nightly sleep aid. A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that its use quintupled between 1999 and 2018.
“Melatonin is a sleep regulator, not a sleep originator,” Breus said.
If melatonin is not an effective sleep aid, why has its use exploded? Experts point to a variety of factors. Foremost is the strong placebo effect when it comes to insomnia treatment. Believing that melatonin will improve sleep can help people feel more relaxed when they get into bed, and they feel as if they can stop trying so hard to fall asleep. Couple that with the misery that insomniacs suffer in their frantic search for a solution, and they become vulnerable marks.
Insomnia is both a common and an awful experience, and many people will do almost anything to try to eliminate it. I had bad bouts of it as a result of chronic pain from a series of injuries many years ago, and among other things I tried melatonin. For me, it not only didn’t work; it seemed to have a paradoxical effort. In other words, it made me nervous in addition to everything else I was going through, and so I never took it again. But I know people who rely on it on a nightly basis.
I imagine a great many of you have opinions on the subject, so fire away.
I never found melatonin much help when I had trouble sleeping.
Sometimes it did give me vivid dreams, which is a known side-effect.
I think it’s a help with jet lag, but not good for regular use.
Jet lag adjustment –.that’s where its use excels. Pilots use it. Cabin attendants use it.
I have never heard if a side effect reported before, like our hosts.
Instead, circa 1980, I recall a science club high school teacher who didn’t produce enough melatonin naturally.
Therefore, he had to dose himself every night in order to sleep. And this was before melatonin became a common supplement.
Vivid, very active dreams, hiking around a city all night. I woke up exhausted. Tried it once and stopped.
I use it, but I also use magnesium because I am in chronic deficit because of intense proton pump inhibitor (Omeprazole) use in the past.
I guess I don’t do “Placebo”.
Like Huxley, I tried it on the recommendation of several people who swore by it and I had exactly zero improvement of my sleep. No effect at all.
I don’t even recall any unusual dreams.
The vet recommended it for my Susie (long haired Chihuahua) after she was diagnosed with Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome, aka doggie Alzheimer’s. Kept her ok for about 18 months until I have to make that trip to the vets.
I’m a chronic insomniac – ever since I was a kid. I have found the melatonin spray (under the tongue) works quite well.
Have a mild dose and have only tried it a few times so not often, seems to have helped. Going to night shift next week for a few weeks so will try it daily.
It’s the middle of the night I have issues not the beginning.
Works for me. I tried sleeping with and without , and different doses, and the tell-all is that I did do blind testing on 5mg vs 10 mg (identical pills with dosing from wife) and I got to sleep faster with 10mg. 5mg did little to nothing.
I suffered from insomnia as a child, which resolved, more or less, by adulthood, although it recurred when I was working for a dot.com in the early 200s and thereafter directing a preschool (I’ve followed a long and winding road) – essentially when my i felt significant stress.
What’s never resolved has been my broken nights. I’ve slept solidly through a night no more than half a dozen times in my 58 years. It actually made having babies around a lot easier – I was already used to being awake several times a night.
Lately, for other behavior mod reasons, I’ve been experimenting with what appears to be great success with self-hypnosis. Maybe once I’ve established a solid pattern with the current suggestions I give myself, I’ll try suggesting that I’ll sleep without waking until morning and see how it goes.
Half a Benadryl works well for me to prevent a tendency to wake up at 2 or so and not be able to get back to sleep. But I don’t have a major problem and don’t need to do it every night.
Half a Benadryl works well for me to prevent a tendency to wake up at 2 or so and not be able to get back to sleep.
Mac:
Benadryl is my go-to when I really must sleep. A few times I’ve gone through periods of using it for a few months.
However, when I can stop, I stop. I don’t know if there are long-term problems, but I’d rather not find out.