September 08, 2001

By: Thad Newman
Website: http://www.1st-nutritional-solutions.com

Melatonin: The Answer for a Good Night’s Sleep ?

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Melatonin is a health product that has received a lot of publicity in recent years. Many of the claims made by melatonin-boosters have proved to be overblown. If you have heard stories that melatonin will help you live longer, improve your sex life, cure cancer, or lower your cholesterol, don’t believe them. However, there is one area where the effectiveness of melatonin has been established: its ability to induce sleep and shift the sleep cycle. In 1993, a study by MIT revealed that melatonin was an effective sleep aid.

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. It has a mild sleepiness-inducing effect. Because of this trait, properly timed melatonin supplements may help people adapt to changes in sleep-wake schedules, as may occur after jet travel across many time zones or in shift work. Researchers believe that the age-related decline in melatonin may be related to the reduced sleep quality many people experience as they get older. Abnormal melatonin production is often encountered in younger people when sleep rhythms are disrupted, for example shift work and jet lag.

Studies suggest that some people with trouble falling asleep and/or staying asleep may benefit from taking melatonin at bedtime. People who have trouble falling asleep at a conventional bedtime - often staying awake until 3 a.m. or later – may benefit by taking melatonin two hours before their current bedtime. They would gradually move back the hour they take melatonin until they reach their desired bedtime. Other people have the opposite problem: they cannot resist falling asleep earlier than a conventional bedtime, say around 9:00 p.m. These people may then awaken fully alert around 3 a.m. and be unable to fall back to sleep. Some people with this problem, called the advanced sleep phase syndrome, benefit from taking melatonin if they awaken between 2 and 5 a.m.

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Author Notes:

Thad Newman contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.1st-nutritional-solutions.com.  A one-stop resource for snoring remedies and anti snoring devices & more!