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Melatonin

gwern.net

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Re: Melatonin

#111

Post by pcl »

chmars wrote: post #87
karlkatzke wrote: post #37

Interesting. I work on call shifts. (Linux sysadmin, one week out of three is 24/7 on call -- which works much better than rotating one day out of three.) I've used Melatonin for years to 'regulate' my sleep cycle so that I can stop my tirelessly creative brain from thinking about that article I read a few hours ago on Hacker News. My other 'hacks' to keep my sleep cycle regulated are f.lux where possible, using only…

Melatonin does NOT work as a remedy for jet lag. I don't find open access links to the relevant studies right now but http://www.nojetlag.com/melatonin.html might give you a first idea.

Anecdotally, melatonin works wonders for me when traveling.

I take 1mg of melatonin between 7 and 9pm in the target time zone's frame, usually starting the day I travel or sometimes the day before. This translates to taking a pill at noon or so in SF before flying to Europe. I follow that up with a pill on the first few evenings of a trip.

I've been doing this for a few years now, and the only remnant of jetlag on such trips is that I feel terrible around 3pm in Europe, which translates to 6am. So I'm guessing that my natural not-yet-shifted sleep cycle is rebelling at that point and trying to convince my body that I just stayed up all night.

Of course, I am an n=1 population size, and the routine has worked so well that I haven't dared to do a significant time zone shift without it. So it could just be me, or it could be the placebo effect. And I'm perfectly ok with that, as long as the jet lag stays at bay.

Re: Melatonin

#112

Post by garrickvanburen »

A couple years back I was taking 3mg of melatonin nightly. It worked brilliantly for about 3 months. After that, while I'd feel sleepy and fall asleep as expected, I'd be wide awake 1 sleep cycle later (~90min).

I'd still recommend melatonin as a short term way to re-establish a regular bedtime/routine. Long term usage - less so.

Re: Melatonin

#113

Post by lgieron »

robmcm wrote: post #94

I cut caffeine out of my diet, (apart from chocolate) which has more or less cured my issues with sleeping. I think I could start drinking it again, but only pre mid day. It is very hard to do (headaches, sleepy in the day etc), but worth a shot. I also use earplugs, which I find it very hard to sleep without now (unless drunk). They not only block out noise, but you get conditioned that when you put them in it's tim…

It is generally not recommended to sleep in earplugs, as you're risking inducing a tinnitus. Basically everyone has some background noise in his ears/head, but it is ordinarily discarded (not brought to consciousness) by central nerve system as it's much quieter than external sounds - but if you cut them out, you're risking that your brain becomes aware of that sound and bam - suddenly you have tinnitus. And it may very well stay with you for the rest of your life.

Re: Melatonin

#114

Post by ChristianMarks »

Gwern comes close to suggesting filtering blue light, but I will repeat a previous post. I've tried melatonin, but it is no substitute for for filtering blue light in my experience, and it tends to induce horrific, apocalyptic nightmares (granted, a night dreaming of EAS Emergency Action Notifications is better than no sleep at all).

I used to be an owl for years--decades. A regular 9-5 schedule seemed out of reach. All previous attempts quickly led to backsliding and accusations of moral failure. However, I found that an involuntary physiological response to artificial light in the range 460-484nm was involved.

This May I changed my environment by filtering out blue light after 8PM, turning off white lamps and turing on amber compact fluorescents. I'm asleep ~ 10PM and up usually ~ 5AM. This is now my regular schedule. It would have been inconceivable for me six months ago.

I use the following:

1. Inexpensive Uvex amber goggles from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S0360X-Ultra-spec-SCT-Orange-Anti... Wear them at least an hour or two before bedtime. I also have the considerably more expensive glasses from lowbluelights.com. In my experience, the inexpensive goggles work just as well, although the more expensive glasses filter more blue light.

2. I replaced most of the white compact fluorescent lights in my apartment with amber compact fluorescent lights https://www.lowbluelights.com/index.asp

3. And I use a sunrise simulator alarm clock. http://www.amazon.com/Philips-HF3520-Wake-Up-Colored-Simulat... Sometimes I forget to set the clock--now I don't seem to need it.

Not to mention f.lux (pardon the paralipsis), though again, in my experience, filtering is necessary.

Concerning the scientific basis for the claim that blue light in the range 460-484nm suppresses melatonin production, here is one reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_ganglion_cell

Moral: Nagging and moralizing was both uninformative and ineffective. Science and engineering was both informative and effective.

Re: Melatonin

#115

Post by jimzvz »

dangerlibrary wrote: post #90
jimzvz wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have terrible sleep habits and often find it difficult to fall asleep before 5am. I have been considering trying melatonin but my major concern is that I will become dependent on it. I don't want my body to stop producing whatever small amount it already does through its use as a supplement. How dependent on it would you say you are? How well would you function if you were unable to get hold of it?

Since you are here, I'm going to assume you are looking at a screen at least some of the time when you are awake that late. You might consider installing blue-light reduction software like f.lux - it's drastically improved my ability to fall asleep late at night.

Thanks. I use f.lux already and it's great (it makes my eyes feel a lot better) but hasn't really helped me fall asleep. I think I am going to try a no back-lit screens after 23:00 rule.

Re: Melatonin

#116

Post by martincmartin »

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #18

The problem with a lack of FDA regulation is that there is no guarantee on what you are taking. The freshness of the product and the veracity of what's in the pills will always be suspect to me. If I could trust where I get my melatonin from, I would gladly take it. But I've learned too much about how terrible this industry is.

consumerlab.org does independent testing of all sorts of supplements. Highly recommended.

Re: Melatonin

#117

Post by [deleted] »

pstuart wrote: post #105
jobu wrote: post #98

My youngest daughter is borderline ADHD, and rather than trying Ritalin we've been using Melatonin in the evenings to help ease the bedtime process. (In the hopes that more sleep will help her cope with problems focusing.) The change has been dramatic. Previously it was a 3-4 hour battle each night for her to get ready for bed and stay in bed. Now with 3mg of Melatonin she spontaneously decides to get ready for bed h…

3mg might be too much. I am not a doctor, but my sleep doctor is, and she recommended half that amount -- right around sunset.

[deleted]

Re: Melatonin

#118

Post by typicalrunt »

jobu wrote: post #98

My youngest daughter is borderline ADHD, and rather than trying Ritalin we've been using Melatonin in the evenings to help ease the bedtime process. (In the hopes that more sleep will help her cope with problems focusing.) The change has been dramatic. Previously it was a 3-4 hour battle each night for her to get ready for bed and stay in bed. Now with 3mg of Melatonin she spontaneously decides to get ready for bed h…

This is similar to something I read a couple years ago, where overactive/hyper children could actually be a result of lack of sleep, since tired children do not act "tired" like adults do.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8016531.stm

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