If you’ve ever searched for tips to get a better night’s sleep there is a high chance you’ve heard of melatonin. There’s an even higher chance that what you’ve heard about the hormone is wrong. There has been a significant rise in the use of melatonin among adults in the United States who turn to supplements to help them sleep. Some researchers note that the rise of melatonin came with “many media hypes and frenzy as well as cult status with unjustified therapeutic claims.” This doesn’t mean that melatonin doesn’t work—there is a right way to use melatonin for sleep—it just means that there’s misinformation about how and why to supplement the hormone. We turned to sleep experts to find out how they want you to use melatonin (so you actually get results).
Melatonin as a sleep aid is a huge myth
Let’s just start by clearing up the biggest myth about melatonin: It is not a sleep aid. Devin Burke, a sleep coach, author and founder of the Sleep Science Academy, notes that somewhere along the way people began to believe that melatonin can help increase the onset of sleep, as well as the quality and duration of sleep. It can’t do that, but it can actually help with the timing of sleep if used properly. While you’ll find melatonin in sleep supplements, Burke notes that it’s easy to forget that melatonin is actually a naturally occurring hormone. “There are studies that suggest that when we use melatonin consistently it actually starts to mess with our [body ’s natural] ability to create melatonin on its own,” Burke continues. “That naturally happens in our brains through the pineal gland. The sun essentially turns off the melatonin faucet and when the sun starts to set, the melatonin faucet turns on.” Experts share that this is why melatonin is often referred to as “the hormone of darkness,” as it helps to regulate sleep; studies show melatonin has its own circadian rhythm that is associated with our body’s sleep rhythm. “[Melatonin] is a circadian trigger that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle,” explains Dr. Colleen Lance, MD,a doctor at Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorders Center. “It is a hormone that is triggered by darkness; when the sun goes down, there is a small burst of melatonin that initiates a neurohormonal cascade to prepare you for sleep a few hours later.” While we have been led to believe that taking melatonin will help us fall—and stay—asleep, its role is actually to help our body recognize that it is nighttime and therefore, time to fall asleep. Grocery and health stores have melatonin lining the shelves (either by itself or as a part of sleep aid formulas) but not only will these supplements likely not do what we have been led to believe; they actually may not contain what we have been led to believe, either.
Labels on melatonin supplements are likely wrong
In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate supplements in the way you’d think. While the FDA does regulate dietary supplements, they are classified as a food versus a drug. Therefore, there is no official review process to substantiate claims made by supplement companies as to their efficacy; the FDA even notes that “if claims sound too good to be true, they probably are.” Not only does the FDA not verify if a supplement does what it says it will, but the actual formulation and ingredients aren’t verified, either. “There is no regulation on production,” notes Dr. Lance. “[For melatonin specifically,] studies of the commonly found formulations show a great deal of variables of the actual amount of melatonin present between manufacturers, and even variation batch to batch from single manufacturers.” So. what does this mean? It’s likely that you’re either getting way less or way more melatonin in your supplements than it says on the bottle. Burke cites a specific study that found “a big discrepancy among the dosing in even the same brand of melatonin.” In this study, some supplements contained over 80 percent less melatonin than claimed, while others contained over 450 percent more melatonin.
Side effects of melatonin
The good news about this wide variation in the amount of melatonin in supplements is that studies have verified that melatonin is safe when taken in the short-term (even in large doses). Dr. Lance notes that side effects of melatonin can include sleepiness, headache, and nausea, though the above study has deemed these as mild. More research needs to be done on side effects from long-term use of melatonin and it is recommended you speak with your doctor before taking melatonin, especially if you are currently taking medications.
Here’s how you should actually use melatonin
Now that you know what melatonin does and doesn’t do, here’s how to actually make it work for you. Using melatonin as a way to prevent and treat jet lag—especially if you are traveling across five or more time zones, according to this study—has been found effective for sleep. In fact, Burke says it is the only way he would recommend using melatonin for sleep. “You can use it to artificially increase the melatonin in your system to trick your body into thinking it is a different time, [which is] why it can be effective for jet lag,” Burke notes. Dr. Lance instructs that for jet lag, you take 0.5 mg of non-sustained release melatonin (different from what is found in drugstores and grocery stores) a few hours before your desired bedtime. “In general for travel going westward, take it in the morning to help reset for a later time,” adds Dr. Lance. “There are apps that can tell you how and when to take melatonin, such as Timeshifter.” Next up: How to Clear Your Mind for a Better Night’s Sleep
Sources
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