Melatonin More Than A Sleep Aid

Melatonin is a natural hormone your body produces.  It is a hormone that helps your body feel ready to fall asleep.  It is produced in response to darkness.  If your circadian rhythm is out of sync you may also experience trouble falling asleep.  Sleep disorders can wreak havoc on your day to day life.  Causing you to feel exhausted throughout the day as well as causing other health problems to your body. 

Melatonin though produced by your body can also be taken in supplemental form.  It is a nonaddictive supplement that you don’t need a prescription to take.  It can be bought at any local pharmacy over the counter.  There are some benefits as well as side effects though from taking melatonin supplements. 

Who should take a melatonin supplement?

Anyone can take melatonin.  It is usually prescribed to adults over the age of 55 who struggle falling asleep or staying asleep at night.  Children as well as young adults can take melatonin as well though some people feel it is best to not give your young child.  As well as it may interfere with adolescent development.  Melatonin is not usually recommended by doctors for the use of children when they have trouble sleeping.  Doctors recommend trying a nighttime routine before jumping to using melatonin.  Melatonin can be helpful with shift workers who need to be able to fall asleep during the day. 

Benefits Of Melatonin Supplementation:

There are a lot of benefits to taking melatonin. 

• It can help with jet lag if you are traveling and want to keep on schedule to the time difference. 
• Other benefits are helping sleep disorders in adults such as insomnia, sleep disorders in children, or help with delayed sleep-wake phase disorder. 
• Taking melatonin before or after a surgery can help reduce anxiety. 
• Taking melatonin has shown to help reduce time to fall asleep, increase total sleep time and improve even sleep quality. 
• Seasonal depression is usually caused when there is more darkness than daytime.  In some studies it has been shown that taking melatonin may help decrease the effects of seasonal depression in some people. 
• There have also been studies that show melatonin can increase HGH levels in men.  HGH is a hormone that is linked to the increase in strength and muscle mass. 
• Some other benefits are supporting immune health, keeping eyes healthy, and maybe even helpful in treating GERD.  

Easy and Convenient:

Since melatonin can be bought over the counter it is important to follow the directions on the label.  If you are taking melatonin to help fall asleep you can take it thirty minutes before bed.  If you are wanting to take melatonin to help reset your circadian rhythm, taking it two to three hours before bed is best.  Melatonin supplements come in either tablet or liquid form.  About three million adults use melatonin supplements and about half a million children.  

The Negatives Of Melatonin Supplementation:

There are some negative side effects that could come with taking melatonin. The most common symptoms are nausea, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, or feeling groggy after waking up.  Melatonin may cause some adverse effects to other medicines you are taking so you will want to be careful if you are on other medication before taking melatonin.  If taking blood thinners melatonin can reduce the ability to coagulate your blood. 

Other less common side effects are short term depression, mild tremors, mild anxiety, abdominal cramps, irritability, reduced alertness, disorientation, hypotension, decrease in body temperature, dry mouth, blurry vision, or increase in seizures if you have a seizure disorder present. 

After taking melatonin if you experience these for more than a day or two you will want to reach out to your healthcare provider to make sure you aren’t having an allergic reaction to the melatonin.  

Conclusion

Use of melatonin has increased over the last years helping people with sleep disorders or people who struggle to fall asleep.  Melatonin supplements can be used by anyone though it is not recommended to be used on infants less than a year old.  It has not shown having any long term or short term addictiveness. 

It is good to speak with your healthcare provider before trying melatonin if you are on other medications.  If you are pregnant or breastfeeding it is best to avoid melatonin supplements altogether.  Melatonin has some great benefits to help aid your sleep and millions of adults are using it on a daily basis.