A melatonin product that transforms your sleep

Melatonin supplements are very popular for people who have trouble sleeping at night. But the dosage of the supplement and the best time to use it were largely determined by trial and error. A new study has put an end to this confusion.

Melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the pineal gland of our body and helps to regulate our circadian rhythm, the natural patterns that our body experiences in a 24-hour cycle. This hormone begins to accumulate in our system shortly after sunset, peaks near sunrise, and declines during the daylight hours. For this reason, it is sometimes called the “vampire hormone.”

When melatonin enters our brain, it creates a sense of relaxation by affecting receptors that begin to prepare us for a good night’s sleep. But we only produce very small amounts of this hormone, which has led people to increase their body’s levels of the hormone with over-the-counter supplements to combat sleep problems. Such problems can often be caused by exposure to light from our digital devices, which has been shown to disrupt our natural melatonin cycles.

But when is the best time to take a melatonin supplement for a good rest? And how much should you consume? To answer these questions, a group of Italian, Swedish, and British researchers collaborated to review the available scientific literature on the effectiveness of melatonin supplementation.

In an article published in the Journal of Pineal Research, the researchers wrote: “Our study is the first systematic attempt to identify the optimal dose and timing of exo-melatonin administration to enhance its sleep-inducing effect. “Furthermore, our results are based on randomized placebo-controlled trials (i.e., the most rigorous experimental design in medical research), which gives our conclusions high controlled value.”

As part of this analysis, the researchers examined a set of 1,689 observations from studies conducted between 1987 and 2020. They concluded that taking 4 mg of melatonin three hours before bedtime maximizes the hormone’s sleep-inducing effects. They say this differs from the current clinical recommendation of taking 2 mg 30 minutes before your intended bedtime.

While hard and fast studies on the overall effectiveness of melatonin are lacking, there is considerable anecdotal evidence in the scientific literature that melatonin supplementation works well for some people and not much better than placebo for others. And at least one study found that melatonin supplementation significantly improved overall sleep quality. With most experts saying short-term use of melatonin is safe, if you have trouble falling asleep, trying a 4 mg dose three hours before bed certainly seems worth a try, according to a new study. To see the latest news, refer to the scientific news page of Tekna Media.