Melatonin supplements

Melatonin (not to be confused with melanin, a pigment) is a hormone that plays a role in the circadian rhythm (the daily cycle of biological activity). It is endogenously produced when in darkness. The ubiquity of electric lighting exposes people to less darkness than preindustrial times, which may cause a range of health problems. Melatonin supplements can be used primarily as a general sleep aid and to deal with jet lag.

I purchased a bottle of 100 .5mg tablets from Trader Joe's (I forgot the price) several weeks ago. I chewed and ate one each night about half an hour before going to sleep, doing this for about two weeks. It worked spectacularly. I had zero trouble falling asleep (I had a little trouble occasionally before). If I tried to stay up past when I originally intended to go to sleep, I got so tired that it was pretty much useless to try to stay up and do any other action. If I got woken up early (by, for example, my bladder) it was just as easy to fall back asleep as when I first went to sleep that night. I have been remembering my dreams a little more (I used to almost never remember my dreams). One night I remember having a dream in cartoon animation, although I forgot what it was about. I also felt a bit more rested, but this could easily just be a placebo effect.

Several days ago I tried taking 2 tablets (1mg) per night. I felt more drowsy after getting just as much sleep. I will continue trying this for I think at least a week more then update this post.

I have had some odd experiences since taking melatonin, though. One night I kept waking up for about 2 minutes every half hour to hour. Another night, I woke up about two hours earlier than my alarm, ate breakfast, then noticed the time and fell back asleep (this has happened previously when I had to get very little sleep to cram in a lot of work earlier in the week). One day, I layed down on my bed intending just to rest a few minutes, but drifted off to sleep for about five hours (I have napped at this time before, but only for about two and a half hours maximum).

A few nights I ate later than usual and the melatonin was not nearly as effective. I usually eat breakfast at 6:00 and dinner at about 15:30.

EDIT: After several weeks, I have not noticed a difference between .5mg/night and 1mg/night, so I am going back down to .5mg to save pills. Perhaps I will try much higher doses sometime, such as 3 or 4mg (some supplements come in these doses).