Melatonin Supplement Overview: How it Works, Benefits and Usage

Many people are turning to Melatonin supplements to help with normalizing sleep patterns.

We continue to learn more and more about the importance of high quality sleep to keep our brain and body functioning at peak levels.

However, many different factors can interfere with getting a good night’s sleep and disrupt the body’s natural Melatonin-releasing schedule.

Taking a 5mg Melatonin supplement can put your body’s rhythms back in balance and make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep at night.

But recent studies and research indicates Melatonin does a lot more than simply help with your sleep. This supplement can improve overall brain health and even has shown some benefits for treating migraines and preventing some forms of cancer.

Melatonin

Sleep Supplement

Sleep

Calmness

Daytime Alertness

How It Works:

• Reduces insomnia, jet lag & daytime fatigue
• Promotes restful sleep & calm mood
• Supports brain function, wellbeing & anti-aging

Dosage:

Between 0.5 - 5 mg per day

Safety:

Rated Likely Safe

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Melatonin Introduction:

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain.

The substance itself helps to regulate other hormones and maintain the natural circadian rhythm within the body. This is our internal ‘clock’ that plays a crucial role in when we wake and go to sleep.

It is directly affected by our perception of lightness and darkness; when it is dark outside the body produces more Melatonin and we become sleepy, when it is light the body produces less and we are more alert and awake.

Normal Melatonin production and release cycles can be disrupted by outside factors. For example, stress, aging, specific medications, supplements, and even light exposure during night can interfere.

Many researchers have postulated that long term disruption in our natural Melatonin production cycle could lead to adverse effects, possibly even cancer and a shortened life span.

How Melatonin Works:

Light perception controls how much Melatonin is produced and released. When it is dark, the pineal gland in the brain is signaled to begin producing and releasing Melatonin. When light hits the optic nerve, the pineal gland is signaled to immediately shut down production of this natural sleep hormone.

Unfortunately, once the cycle has been interrupted it can be difficult to get it going again. This is the reason why if you wake in the middle of the night and turn on the light it can be difficult to go back to sleep. The production of Melatonin is not immediately turned back on even when the light goes out.

Melatonin is also thought to be a factor in a number of additional bodily processes.

This includes controlling the timing and release of female reproductive hormones. It can help to determine when a woman starts to menstruate, the frequency and duration, and when she reaches menopause.

Researchers also believe that Melatonin levels decrease as we age, with children having the highest nighttime levels. Lower levels may indeed be related to sleep problems and can explain why sometimes we tend to go to bed and wake up earlier as we age.

Neuroprotective Benefits:

There are also a number of ways in which high levels of Melatonin work to improve general brain health. Melatonin is actually a very powerful and versatile anti-oxidant. It protects both lipids and proteins against damage along with scavenging free radicals like hydroxyl and hydrogen peroxide (two of the most dangerous and damaging free radicals present in the body).

Part of how this supplement acts to protect the brain and neurons is by crossing over the blood-brain barrier. Since it also easily diffuses into all cells and enters the central nervous system, this is makes it easy to attach to neurons within the brain.

Melatonin has also been shown to help with a number of medical conditions. This includes a number of neurodegenerative issues like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. It has also been shown to help manage elevated blood pressure, which is one of the risk factors for a stroke.

In fact, when administered at the time of a stroke, this supplement is able to limit the area of brain tissue damage, decrease brain cell death, and reduce the rate of neuron death.

Melatonin Sleep Aids:

Of course, the supplement is also capable of promoting healthy sleep. This is especially helpful in people who have irregular work schedules or just cannot seem to go to sleep naturally.

It can reduce the amount of time that it takes to get to sleep as well as increasing total sleep duration and sleep quality. Additionally, users report waking up feeling more rested and refreshed than without the supplement.

Melatonin can help those engaged in shift work or suffering from changes in their normal patterns due to travel. There have even been studies suggesting that supplementation can reduce the frequency of night time urination which is often a big factor in irregular sleeping patterns. Many people with Restless Leg Syndrome will use Melatonin supplements as well.

Melatonin can encourage deeper REM sleep, possibly even promoting lucid dreaming and allowing for your nighttime memory consolidation processes to be more effective. When you wake the next morning, you may feel sharper with greater clarity of thought and potentially improved mental performance.

This is one of the reasons why this supplement is often grouped in with cognitive enhancers and nootropics even though it does not have a direct impact on functions related to learning and memory.

Usage & Dosage:

The generally accepted dosage range for Melatonin is between 1 and 5 mg per day/night. It also should be noted that beta blockers, aspirin, and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may decrease overall Melatonin production in the body.

Taking alcohol or other sedating drugs together with this supplement may increase the level of relaxation and sedation experience (and this practice is NOT recommended). The best way to take this supplement is at night or about 30 minutes before sleep.

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