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Melatonin

gwern.net

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Re: Melatonin

#221

Post by Tichy »

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…

Just curious, what would have happened if you hadn't battled her to go to sleep?

Re: Melatonin

#222

Post by pallandt »

ChristianMarks wrote: post #114

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.…

I'm testing an LED light currently, it's color-changing via remote, but not the expensive Philips Hue kind. I'm using it on Orange for early mornings and Red for when I have to stay up late with work.

I think it's probably similar to what you're doing with your amber compact fluorescent lights. I'm happy with the results.

Btw, there was a new study recently, http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/neuroscience/science-n... or the paper directly http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/32/13081.abstract

Supposedly red light during the night is the least 'traumatic' to endure.

Re: Melatonin

#223

Post by jleyank »

tedks wrote: post #204
goldfeld wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's something to do with particular makes of the drug, but I've also had my worst nightmares while on it, and the words GP used are spot on for me. My mom, aunt and other members of my family had similar experiences and we've mostly stopped taking it. I did partly because it no longer has the surefire effect it once had on me, and partly because I'd often wake up in a crappy/despairing mood because of the ap…

Melatonin isn't a drug, it's the neurohormone that provokes sleep. Your body produces it naturally already.

Damn straight it's a drug. It's one your body just happens to produce. It's having a biochemical interaction at concentrations far less than would be required for a chemical reaction (such as neutralizing acid in the stomach with calcium carbonate). Similar to using the pill to modify the reproductive cycle.

Re: Melatonin

#224

Post by taralx »

bane wrote: post #182

My wife is a terrible sleeper -- around bed-time she'll suddenly want to do various household chores, vacuum, chat endlessly etc., that combined with irregular and often stressful work, my usually very regular sleep pattern has been totally annihilated over the last 5-10 years. It also reached the point in the last year that I needed to be at one work site a few days a week, but at 6am, then another site different da…

The cloudy headed thing is almost certainly due to a too-large dose. gwern recommends somewhere around 1/10th of the dose you are taking. I've been splitting 1mg pills in half.

Re: Melatonin

#225

Post by KingMob »

avtar wrote: post #143
tedks wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it tends to induce horrific, apocalyptic nightmares I've used melatonin for years, as have many of my friends and family, and I've never had anyone mention this. I've always had more vivid dreams with melatonin, but I've never had nightmares.

I've attended a few week long meditation retreats where you generally have to adhere to the schedule laid out for you; that includes waking up early (~5:00AM) and going to bed early and also refraining from using anything that could be considered a distraction, namely computers, phones, etc. More often than not, a few days into a retreat I would start experiencing extremely vivid and violent dreams. One of my meditat…

I've also had spectacularly vivid dreams on retreats, but mine weren't violent, at least.

Re: Melatonin

#226

Post by robmcm »

lgieron wrote: post #144
dcherman wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, do you have a source for this? I developed tinnitus last year and currently do wear earplugs while sleeping, however I certainly don't want to make it worse.

An audiologist told me that.

Great, insomnia here I come!

Re: Melatonin

#228

Post by WalterSear »

ericd wrote: post #201
WalterSear wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3mg is a very large dose, particularly for a child. I take 0.5 mg myself.

Yeah, the Trader Joes ones are 0.5 mg, taste like peppermint candies, and knock me out within 15 minutes.

I buy the 5 mg ones, crush them up to powder and then mix them thoroughly with a carefully measured 5 teaspoons of sugar.

1/2 a teaspoon of sugar is now a 0.5 melatonin dose.

Re: Melatonin

#229

Post by lgieron »

dcherman wrote: post #126
lgieron wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 v…

Out of curiosity, do you have a source for this? I developed tinnitus last year and currently do wear earplugs while sleeping, however I certainly don't want to make it worse.

BTW for people whose tinnitus is bothering them enough to shell out a couple grand, check this out: http://www.anm-medical.com/index.php/en/tinnitus/acoustice-c...

It seems to be the first therapy for tinnitus which was confirmed in clinical trials. Unlike TRT, it can actually make the sound go away and not just make you less unhappy about it.

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