I've been using melatonin as a sleep aid. I find it extremely effective and within 30 minutes on a 3mg dose I am unable to keep my eyes open. I put my book down and I am out within a minute. I have not experienced any side effects or drowsiness in the following day.

Last night it came to me that I have been using this stuff for longer than I anticipated and that maybe it could be harming me in some way, so I skipped the melatonin at bedtime. I was reading as I usually do, but of course there was no massive wave of sleepiness and I was getting into my book rather than just grabbing a few pages on the way out to dreamland. I was being stimulated rather than relaxed by my book and after an hour I decided to put it down and go to sleep.

I don't know if it was just the time of night, or if that I'm used to being smashed into dreamworld with a melatonin hammer, but the transition was not super quick. I had to change positions twice and almost fell asleep once but woke up before going under. I'm not sure if I am experiencing a warning sign or not.

Does anyone else have experience with longer term use of melatonin? There is so much conflicting information online.

Many thanks

Northy

There has been a bit of research and unanimously the findings have been that long term use is safe and not associated with any withdrawal or rebound effects.

Arendt, Josephine. "Safety of melatonin in long-term use (?)." Journal of biological rhythms 12.6 (1997): 673-681.

Lemoine, Patrick, et al. "Prolonged-release melatonin for insomnia–an open-label long-term study of efficacy, safety, and withdrawal." Therapeutics and clinical risk management 7 (2011): 301.

Olcese, James M., et al. "Protection against cognitive deficits and markers of neurodegeneration by long‐term oral administration of melatonin in a transgenic model of Alzheimer disease." Journal of pineal research 47.1 (2009): 82-96.

Palm, Lars. "Long‐term melatonin treatment in blind children and young adults with circadian sleep‐wake disturbances." Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 39.5 (1997): 319-325.

You're legendairy dreamer. Moo yeah!.

Thanks so much.

Yeah i used to take Melatonin nightly for a few years, from i think about 2011 (maybe a bit earlier) to about i think 2015 or 2016. The most i've taken at one time was like 25 to 30mgs, i usually stuck with about 10 to 25mgs a night, the only side-effects i noticed were next day grogginess/sleepiness and some irritability (but i'm a naturally irritable person anyways lol). Even took it for sleep after pretty much most of my Aya/Pharma-huasca experiences which would've been potentiated by the Harmala's CYP1A2 inhibition, so there's no telling how much i was actually consuming at those times. I haven't taken Melatonin in awhile, though i did take it a few nights i think last year because i had ran out of my usual sleep medicine (Tizanidine), but i mainly stick to the Tizanidine now (usually with some Robaxin), the Tizandine can knock me out real good (it's a blood pressure medication), potent sedative lol.

From the perspective of someone who has used a lot of melatonin over the decades and suggested it to many clients over the same period, the only thing I worry about is the body's perception of not having to make it anymore since it's getting it from an outside source in the form of a supplement.

Other than that, melatonin is very, very safe. It has the same toxicity as table salt, (low toxicity) as one would expect from an endogenous chemical (in this case an endogenous hormone).

Ideally, one should use melatonin for a determined amount of time (I generally always recommend no longer than 3 months straight without a break) to regulate sleep cycles. It is important to always take it around the same time each night so that one can accustom the body/mind to falling asleep at that time.

Again, as far as endogenous chemical supplements go (i.e., Co-Q-10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Melatonin, SAM-e, etc.), even though they tend to be some of the most safe substances available (since they are made by our bodies to begin with), my one concern is possibly creating a feedback loop where the body decides it doesn't need to manufacture said chemical anymore because it has been provided from an outside source for a long enough period of time.

This is only my professional opinion that I decided to add to this thread in hopes that it would help someone else along their way.


Peace

I remember reading awhile back somewhere that even long term use of Melatonin doesn't cause the body to produce less Melatonin. Cannabis, iirc, also releases Melatonin, yet that doesn't seem to cause issues either from what i've been able to tell. People also use Tart Cherry as a regular supplement and i haven't heard anything bad about that either.

There is no risk of the body stopping production or creating less melatonin because of supplementation. That's exactly what the type of misinformation I was hoping to dispel with the peer reviewed research attached to my previous post.

When long term melatonin is discontinued there is actually increased endogenous production for a few days then production goes back to baseline levels. See the attached research, particularly Lemoine, Patrick, et al. for in depth information on this phenomena.

Endogenous melatonin production has been found to decrease as we age. However, I'm curious how much that has to do with the use of screens and electric lighting and/or decreased pineal function. Considering the extremely important repairative role melatonin plays in the body, supplementation to offset this (natural?) decrease is all the more important.

You are correct that cannabis also dumps melatonin. Article on that is attached to this post.

Lissoni, P., et al. "Effects of tetrahydrocannabinol on melatonin secretion in man." Hormone and metabolic research 18.01 (1986): 77-78.

People are only supposed to need melatonin in the micro gram range... but many people over use it taking 10 and 20 mgs a night to sleep..

The older one gets the less they can produce metatonin...and melatonin supliments are needed...

Ive been taking 5mgs per night ..[with herbal sleep tea].. good results and heavy dreaming ..

Too much melatonin can make one feel groggy in the morning though.

Melatonin plays an important roll in sleep closely connected to your natural bio clock or .... [sleep clock]...

It helps me sleep and dream combined with celestral seasonings sleepy time tea that i sip at diferent intervals all through the night when aroused from a dream...

Oral administration is not the most efficient, so it's possible that when you take 10mg only a small fraction of it enters your blood stream.

Fair enough.

Although studying the affects of melatonin on 224 human adults over a span of 6-12 months is not reassuring to me enough to recommend my clients to take melatonin willy-nilly in an un-ending manner.

I tend to be more conservative in my herbal practice and usually fall back on well-thought-out-formulas (according to the energectic of the plants/minerals/animals used) that have been used by millions of people for centuries or millennia. That's just the way I roll. I have no problem with others experimenting with whatever they choose to put into their bodies as long as they're not hurting anyone else. However the clients that come to see me know how I roll and that's why they trust me. And I take that trust extremely seriously.

I also like to share my more conservative approach, and the old theories that I still employ, with others here on the Nexus in order to give them yet another perspective to look at the subject at hand from.

Furthermore, I do feel that the age-related decrease in endogenous hormone production is "natural" (Yes, folks, you ARE supposed to grow old and die; sorry about that, sincerely, Mother Nature).

About a decade ago, when I was still managing a very busy acupuncture clinic & herbal pharmacy, there was an M.D. in town that got way into "natural" hormone replacement for older adults. The amount of side-effectual blowback our office got from his patients that he put on huge regimens of hormones in order to get these senior citizens' hormone levels back to what a 21-year-old should be at was amazing to say the least. It gave us a lot of extra business when people started having all sorts of weird, not-so-enjoyable symptoms from the "I'll return you to your youth" doctor.

I would look them in the eye and ask, "what makes anyone think that a 70-year-old with hormone levels of a 21 year-old is a good or natural thing?"

Much respect,

Doc