Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

lesswrong.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 268 posts

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#171

Post by newnewpdro »

dogcow wrote: post #161
anonu wrote: post #153

Couple anecdotal points: - Used to have to sleep problems - mainly just my mind racing with all the (stress of) things I had to do. The symptoms were trouble sleeping and/or waking in the middle of the night with instant thoughts of projects, task lists. - Melatonin didn't help me much. Maybe their effect was too subtle on me - maybe I was using the wrong dose as mentioned in the post. - Magnesium Glycinate pills bef…

I am sharing my experience because I know how awful sleep problems can be. I'm in my 30s and eat what many consider a very healthful diet - virtually no sugar, just veggies, high quality fats and proteins, and minimal fruit. I spend 7-9 hours in bed; yet wake up feeling exhausted every. single. day. I'd love to exercise, but I'm too continuously tired to get started. Melatonin, when taken via dissolving sublingual ta…

Do you consume stimulants like caffeine?

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#172

Post by joveian »

xor1 wrote: post #80
amaccuish wrote: post #5

Melatonin has genuinely changed my life in regards to sleep. I'd tried everything and for exams went on Zopiclone, and then found the gold that is Melatonin. Thoroughly recommend anyone with suitable problems sleeping giving it a go. (I was DSPD, though every so often did the whole "Non-24-Hour-Sleep Disorder" thing)

How much do you take? I was regularly taking 3mg and 1.5mg regularly for most of the past 4 years. I recently tried 0.3mg (as recommended in another recent HN discussion about melatonin, I think it was a week or 2 ago), and I had terrible results. On 1.5mg and 3mg, I would have very unsettling and memorable dreams, as well as wake up very tired, but I would get at least 7 hours of sleep on most nights. With 0.3mg, I…

I get the wake up reaction with any dose, unless I take it with other stuff that keeps me asleep. I have Non-24 and have tried a bunch of stuff and have found finding things to help stay asleep easier than finding stuff to help get to sleep, although nothing really works for very long at a time (and there is a huge amount of individual variation in what helps at all). If exercise works for you that would be best but for me it doesn't help.

I wrote a long post about stuff that helps me stay asleep a month ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17384486

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#173

Post by enra »

akx wrote: post #97
chmars wrote: post #91

Melatonin is usually not (freely) sold in Europe while it can be easily bought in the US like vitamin pills or cod liver oil. Is there a recommendable online option with international delivery? (I don't consider the usual 'online pharmacies' recommendable. Even when buying Melatonin in a store in the US, there's still the issue that Melatonin manufacturers and sellers mostly control themselves …)

Huh. Melatonin is readily available in pharmacies and shops here in Finland.

Afaik, 5 years ago it was only available in the 1mg amount (which in the light of this article, would be good). I once ordered some online that was 3mg, and the customs almost fined me for illegal drug importing.

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#174

Post by coldtea »

barrkel wrote: post #127
coldtea wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've always believed in the law of thermodynamics myself - counting just the calories Counting just the calories ignores second order effect, and diet is all about second order effects. If one could absolutely stick to counting the calories and eating the specified amount, of course one would lose weight. But e.g. a diet of only having 1500 calories of broccoli for 1 year, and one would be ill from lack of tons of…

One / your / it / we: make up your mind on pronoun and stick with it!

Maybe focus on the content?

Any disparity is just on this single sentence: "your appetite increases" (as opposed to "their" or "one's").

"Their" as used across the comment is not meant as the plural possessive. It's instead used as a gender-neutral pronoun (a common use) to avoid repeating "one's" or using "his/hers".

It, in "your appetite increases and it's more likely to overeat" etc., refers to the situation/possibility (as in "If they sky's cloudy it's more likely to rain"). It is normal to use different pronouns to refer to different entities.

Finally, the "we" at the end is perfectly fitting. It's a generalization, beyond what each individual does.

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#176

Post by gotrecruit »

victor106 wrote: post #166
dogcow wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sharing my experience because I know how awful sleep problems can be. I'm in my 30s and eat what many consider a very healthful diet - virtually no sugar, just veggies, high quality fats and proteins, and minimal fruit. I spend 7-9 hours in bed; yet wake up feeling exhausted every. single. day. I'd love to exercise, but I'm too continuously tired to get started. Melatonin, when taken via dissolving sublingual ta…

Not sure if minimal fruit counts as a healthy diet

fruit is not healthy for you, contrary to what you may have traditionally heard. you can get everything you need, vitamins and minerals wise, from vegetables, without the sugar that comes with fruits.

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#177

Post by gotrecruit »

andy_ppp wrote: post #109
jwilliams wrote: post #100

I regularly take long haul flights (12+ hours) and take Melatoin for Jet Lag. I'll take twice. With the flights I take this usually works out to before sleeping on the plane (which ideally is the same/close to bed-time at the destination). And then the first night at the destination. In combination with other tricks -- I've found it really effective.

What are the other tricks, I’ve always found jet lag horrendous.

my instant jet lag cure:

1. if i arrive early in the day, make sure i take as much coffee and/or energy drinks as possible to stay awake. then stop about 4 hours before planned bedtime.

2. once it's bedtime, or if i arrive at destination close to bedtime, if possible, i then smoke as much cannabis as is necessary to force me to go to sleep.

whenever i travel somewhere with vastly different timezones, i do this two or three days in a row and i'm usually fixed.

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#178

Post by anonu »

ukulele wrote: post #170
dogcow wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sharing my experience because I know how awful sleep problems can be. I'm in my 30s and eat what many consider a very healthful diet - virtually no sugar, just veggies, high quality fats and proteins, and minimal fruit. I spend 7-9 hours in bed; yet wake up feeling exhausted every. single. day. I'd love to exercise, but I'm too continuously tired to get started. Melatonin, when taken via dissolving sublingual ta…

What you've just described also sounds a lot like sleep apnea. Healthy, non-snorers can have it so might be worth doing a quick test.

Sleep apnea is one of the biggest unsolved problems in medicine. It effects 1 in 4 people and there's no good solution for it. I think this is an area where technology (and not drugs or surgery) can make a big difference.

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#179

Post by joveian »

travbrack wrote: post #92
TheEzEzz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just an anecdotal warning. Unisom is not recommended for long term use. I didn't know this and used it for a year straight to combat stress induced insomnia during my first startup. It took me a few years before I returned to feeling "normal". YMMV.

Another data point: I've been using it on and off for a year now and it's been a life saver. I can reliably get to sleep when I need to for the first time in my life As best I can tell it's not recommended for long term use because it hasn't been studied for that purpose and because there are prescription sleep aids that don't cause as much drowsiness I'm terrified of taking a prescription sleep aid because of all th…

The first generation antihistamines are strongly anticholinergic, so long term use might have cognative effects and may increase the chance of dementia later in life. They can also interact with a lot of other medication since they are much less specific than most drugs. I agree that they are still quite a bit better than GABA-A agonists. IMO, any sleep medication is best taken with breaks as frequently as possible, which can both increase effectiveness when you take it and reduce side effects of long term use.

Re: Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#180

Post by clumsysmurf »

clumsysmurf wrote: post #156
anonu wrote: post #153

Couple anecdotal points: - Used to have to sleep problems - mainly just my mind racing with all the (stress of) things I had to do. The symptoms were trouble sleeping and/or waking in the middle of the night with instant thoughts of projects, task lists. - Melatonin didn't help me much. Maybe their effect was too subtle on me - maybe I was using the wrong dose as mentioned in the post. - Magnesium Glycinate pills bef…

I use Mg Citrate, because it seems pretty bio-available and easy to find. Does the form matter? Maybe I should switch to Glycinate.

Gah, the Mg Citrate I used from Solgar seems to be contaminated with Arsenic according to labdoor.

https://labdoor.com/rankings/magnesium

Post reply on HN