Can't sleep? When slumber doesn't come naturally, some are turning to melatonin, an over-the-counter sleep aid that often is mistaken for a supplement. This powerful hormone plays an important role in human biology, and specialists are questioning whether increasing levels could be doing more harm than good.

A new investigation launched by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine is looking into the safety of melatonin. And while the health advisory checking the evidence is underway, the academy is recommending that melatonin not be used for insomnia in adults or children.

But what is insomnia, and how is it different from a few bad nights of sleep? Insomnia disturbs sleep at least three times a week for more than 3 months, often causing people to feel tired during the day as well.

Production of melatonin (dubbed the "vampire hormone") begins at night, when it starts getting dark outside. Melatonin release is scheduled by the small but mighty pineal gland at the back of the head. Melatonin signals to the body that it's time to sleep. And as the sun rises and light shines, melatonin levels decline again to help the body wake.

Sometimes packaged in gummy bear fruit flavors, melatonin can have an alluring appeal to sleep-deprived parents looking for relief for themselves and their children.

Muhammad Adeel Rishi, MD, vice chair of the Public Safety Committee for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, says he has a doctor colleague who started taking melatonin to help him during the pandemic when he was having trouble falling asleep at night. His doctor friend started giving the hormone to his own children, who were also having sleep issues.

But Rishi says there are important reasons to not use melatonin for insomnia until more information is available.

Melatonin affects sleep, but this hormone also influences other functions in the body.

"It has an impact on body temperature, blood sugar, and even the tone of blood vessels," Rishi says.

And because melatonin isn't considered a drug, it doesn't require approval by the FDA and is sold over the counter.

A previous study of melatonin products, for instance, flagged problems with inconsistent doses, which make it hard for people to know exactly how much they are getting and prompted calls for more FDA oversight.

Imprecise Doses
While melatonin doses typically range from 1 to 5 milligrams, bottles examined have been off target with much more or less hormone in the product than listed on the label.

Researchers from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, tested 30 commercially available formulas and found the melatonin content varied from the ingredients labeled on the bottles by more than 10%.

In addition to melatonin, the researchers found other substances in the bottles too: In about a quarter of the products, they also identified another chemical messenger called serotonin.

Impurities
While melatonin plays a role in setting the body's biological clock and the sleep and wake cycle, serotonin is also at work. Occurring naturally in our bodies, serotonin is involved in mood and helps with deep REM sleep. But adding serotonin in unknown amounts could be unhealthy.

Rishi says it can be dangerous to use a product as a medication when doses can be so off and there are unknown byproducts in it.

Serotonin can influence the heart, blood vessels, and brain, so it's not something Rishi wants to see people taking without paying attention. People taking medication for mood disorders could be especially affected by the serotonin in their sleep aid, he warns.

For anyone taking melatonin, Rishi recommends they check the bottle to see whether they are using a product with a USP verified check mark, which indicates that the product meets the standards of the U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention.

The risk of impurities is a good reason for kids to not be given the hormone, but another worry is whether melatonin interferes with puberty in children – which is also a question researchers at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Canada, are asking.

Disrupting Puberty
While short-term melatonin use is considered safe, the researchers report, concerns that long-term use might delay children's sexual maturation require more study. One theory is that nightly melatonin use might interrupt the decline of natural hormone levels and interfere with the start of puberty.

Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit also reported an uptick in accidental ingestion of melatonin in children. Kids got their hands on melatonin and swallowed too many capsules more often than other pill-related mishaps during the pandemic, they reported in the journal Pediatrics.

Rishi says more research is needed to assess the safe use of melatonin in children. He points out that the hormone can treat circadian rhythm disorders in adults.

While specialists weigh the benefits and risks of melatonin use and where it is safest to try, Rishi says the hormone does have a role in medicine.

Melatonin will probably need to be regulated by the FDA as a medication – especially for children – Rishi points out. And what place, if any, it will have for managing chronic insomnia is "a big question mark."

Results of the investigation by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine will be published on its sleepeducation.org website in a few months.

Sources
The Journal of the American Medical Association: "Trends in Use of Melatonin Supplements Among US Adults, 1999-2018."

Muhammad Adeel Rishi, MD, vice chair, Public Safety Committee, American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine: "Melatonin Natural Health Products and Supplements: Presence of Serotonin and Significant Variability of Melatonin Content."

Nature and Science of Sleep: "Could long-term administration of melatonin to prepubertal children affect timing of puberty? A clinician's perspective."

link: https://www.medscape.com/viewa...sso=true&faf=1&src=W

My brother is completely dependent on malatonin and "drugs" his toddler with it to get him to sleep. I keep railing on him about it, but his pediatrician instructed him to do it. My brother is one of those that grabs an answer he likes, and runs with it. I guess we all do that in some way or fashion...but its difficult to watch. Thanks for the article I'm going to send it to him.

Working midnight shifts several years ago I tried melatonin and within a couple days had 2 or 3 bouts of vertigo. Stopped taking it and haven't had an episode since.

At the time an internet search didn't give me any real results regarding melatonin and vertigo, but I just searched it again and there seems to be other cases of melatonin and dizziness.

I have never understood why people will rush to use drugs to cure all their problems.

If you aren't getting enough sleep, soon enough you'll essentially collapse and pay off your sleep debt. Problem solved.

Tried it a few years ago and it was a disaster. Made my insomnia worse and caused crazy dreams and mood changes. Angered quickly and always in a bad mood. Tossed it after about a week. Never again!

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I have never understood why people will rush to use drugs to cure all their problems.

If you aren't getting enough sleep, soon enough you'll essentially collapse and pay off your sleep debt. Problem solved.

Glad you can do that. I can't. I get up at 4am, I can't go to bed at 8pm. If if I could go to bed at 8pm, I can't sleep through the night.

If there was an effective drug without a morning hangover I would take it in a second.

quote:

the academy is recommending that melatonin not be used for insomnia in adults

10 years too late for that for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I have never understood why people will rush to use drugs to cure all their problems.

If you aren't getting enough sleep, soon enough you'll essentially collapse and pay off your sleep debt. Problem solved.

Boy that's an ignorant thing to say. Glad you don't have issues sleeping.

No agenda with that writer. No sir

What a load of bullshit

Melatonin sucks. That crap gives me a zombie like hang over where I feel like I’m in a semi conscious daze worse than recovering after a night of heavy partying/drinking.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Melatonin sucks. That crap gives me a zombie like hang over where I feel like I’m in a semi conscious daze worse than recovering after a night of heavy partying/drinking.

Holy shit same here. I tried it a few times and I had a headache and cottonmouth. It was a pretty wretched morning, every time.

quote:

No agenda with that writer. No sir

What a load of bullshit

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Physicians are required to report conflicts of interest. Are you suggesting he is shilling for Big Pharma??

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Physicians are required to report conflicts of interest. Are you suggesting he is shilling for Big Pharma??

Not exactly. I’m just saying there’s way more who say it’s perfectly fine including our pediatrician and yes we give our kids the gummies from time to time and it helps them sleep well.

This article smacks of agenda to me

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Melatonin sucks. That crap gives me a zombie like hang over where I feel like I’m in a semi conscious daze worse than recovering after a night of heavy partying/drinking.

Holy shit same here. I tried it a few times and I had a headache and cottonmouth. It was a pretty wretched morning, every time.

Yeah, but did you sleep well?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Physicians are required to report conflicts of interest. Are you suggesting he is shilling for Big Pharma??

Not exactly. I’m just saying there’s way more who say it’s perfectly fine including our pediatrician and yes we give our kids the gummies from time to time and it helps them sleep well.

This article smacks of agenda to me

Always a little bit of truth in everything

I don’t even know if I sleep well when I take it. The effects afterward are so bad I feel sleepy, tired and damn near hung over nearly half of the next day.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Physicians are required to report conflicts of interest. Are you suggesting he is shilling for Big Pharma??

Not exactly. I’m just saying there’s way more who say it’s perfectly fine including our pediatrician and yes we give our kids the gummies from time to time and it helps them sleep well.

This article smacks of agenda to me

Yeah, rather vague and general, with specifics that don't matter to me. I take Melatonin with no aftereffects, best I can tell. I go to sleep fast, sleep sound and have entertaining dreams.

I sleep like a rock on it, world could explode around me and I’m out for 6 good hours at least.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Physicians are required to report conflicts of interest. Are you suggesting he is shilling for Big Pharma??

Not exactly. I’m just saying there’s way more who say it’s perfectly fine including our pediatrician and yes we give our kids the gummies from time to time and it helps them sleep well.

This article smacks of agenda to me

The way I read it was that they aren't sure what the long term effects are. It may turn out to be perfectly fine, but it could also turn out to have some bad long term effects. The point is they just don't know. I would also question his stance on the vaccination. Does he feel the same way about that and lack of testing?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
If there was an effective drug without a morning hangover I would take it in a second.

Sonata. You'll need a prescription.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Melatonin will probably need to be regulated by the FDA as a medication – especially for children – Rishi points out.

Ah, there it is.

Translation: Big pharma and their drug peddlers currently aren't making money off it--and it's probably cutting into their prescription drug profits.

Can't have that, can we?

The red yeast rice thing all over again <smh>

(*pssst* Please don't anybody tell 'em about saw palmetto, or that'll be next on their list.)