What Does Melatonin Do, and What Are the Risks?

Studies and research have proved with strong evidence that melatonin helps resolve sleep related problems. It not only increases the sleep duration but also helps treat insomnia symptoms. Different dosages are prescribed for different types of sleep issues. However, another fact is associated with use of melatonin or better sleep that excessive or unchecked consumption of melatonin can cause risk of other severe health problems. The side effects of melatonin can harm your overall health.

What is Melatonin?

Your body makes several types of hormones to carry on hundreds of biochemical reactions in your body. Melatonin is one of these hormones. As it is produced by your body naturally, production and use is under the control of your central nervous system. The system identifies melatonin as a sleep hormone that usually helps you fall asleep. 

Studies suggest that melatonin itself does not take part in inducing sleepiness but it only lets your body know about the bedtime. The information about bedtime helps your mind and body to fall asleep more easily and quickly. 

This article is loaded with all the necessary information about the working, dosage and side effects of melatonin. Keep reading so that you may understand the working pattern of melatonin and can estimate when and how you should use melatonin for better sleep.

What is the Working Pattern of Melatonin?

Your body follows a sleep-wake cycle also known as circadian rhythm. This cycle actually works according to the pattern or adjustments you have made for your sleep. But along this another internal clock of your body is synchronizing with your circadian rhythm. The combined action of your internal body clock and circadian rhythm, help you know about the time to sleep and time to wake up. Melatonin actually boosts your circadian rhythm. It also helps regulate your:

• Hormones levels.
• Blood pressure.
• Body temperature.
• Body weight.

But when your body loses its ability to make enough melatonin according to your requirement, you may experience difficulty falling asleep at night. According to studies, many factors play a role in decreasing the level of melatonin at night in your body, including:

• Excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages or caffeine.
• Unchecked alcohol consumption.
• Frequent blue light exposure, especially near bed time.
• Certain medications.
• Smoking.
• Aging.
• Shift work.

In such conditions, you may need some supplementary aid to have a sound sleep without any difficulty. Melatonin supplement can help increase and stabilize the melatonin  levels in your body which may result in normalizing your internal sleep-wake clock. 

However, taking melatonin supplements without talking to your doctor may prove injurious to your health. So it’s good to consult your doctor whether taking melatonin supplements is the right option for you.

How Melatonin Helps Fall Asleep Quickly?

Melatonin, studies say, helps decrease sleep latency. Taking melatonin supplements before bed time increases total sleep duration about 45 to 50 minutes as compared to other sleep inducing medications. 

In addition, a 2022 study revealed that melatonin is also effective for removing disease-related sleep disorders. Many researches have suggested that melatonin helps reduce sleep latency and sleep disturbances along with increasing sleep quality and sleep duration.

Moreover, in many cases it was observed that melatonin counteracts jet lag by syncing your internal sleep-wake clock with change in time. Jet lag symptoms not only disturb the sleep-wake cycle of travelers but also affect the sleep quality and duration of people who are shift workers. This happens because shift workers work during hours that are usually fixed for sleep.

However, you should still try some healthy sleep hygiene tips before using melatonin. The tips are:

• Limit alcohol and caffeine consumption.
• Refrain from using electronic devices before bed.
• Establish and strictly follow a consistent sleep schedule.

Positive Effects of Melatonin on Your Health

According to stooges, melatonin also helps manage other health issues, such as:

Acid Reflux and GERD: Melatonin is proved effective for treating acid reflux and alleviating gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). It does this by protecting the lining of the esophagus from the invasion of irritants reaching thorough alcohol, acid and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Nervous System related Conditions: Melatonin is an effective remedy for the people who experience different neurological mental conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia or Bipolar disorder. It not only improves sleep quality in these people but also helps increase the morning alertness. However, the research is not enough to prove the effects of melatonin on brain health. More research is needed in this regard.

Eye Conditions: Different types of eye health conditions like age-related macular degeneration are treated with the help of melatonin. This means melatonin neutralizes free radicals to decrease the inflammation in the eye muscles. Melatonin also acts as an antioxidant that makes it a perfect remedy for eye diseases.tinnitus: this is an ear related disease that affects the hearing ability. Melatonin is considered an effective source to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus.

Migraine Attacks: Melatonin has a special feature as a pain reliever. Due to its pain relieving ability it is considered best for relieving the pain caused by migraine attack. 

How to Take Melatonin?

Researchers and healthcare professionals always recommend the careful and checked use of melatonin. Because taking melatonin for treating or reducing insomnia symptoms is a complex procedure. You should start with very low dosage. Doctors often recommend taking just 1 milligram tablet of melatonin supplement around 30 minutes before bed time. If in case this dosage is not enough and not improving your sleep duration or sleep quality, you can gradually increase up to 5 to 6 milligram per day. But always keep in mind that taking melatonin more than 6 milligrams a day sometimes causes side effects. In this quantity melatonin often causes severe health issues and does not help you fall asleep. You can talk to your doctor before using over-the-counter melatonin. Also look for supplements instructions labelled on the packaging.

Risks related to Use of Melatonin

Although no study has found serious risks related to melatonin usage. Research had disclosed that no dependence or withdrawal symptoms had been observed in people who were used to taking melatonin for falling asleep promptly.

However, a small study involving around 30 people of different ages , found that taking melatonin supplements actually affects its natural production. Study revealed that when people take melatonin from artificial sources, their body stops the production of melatonin  naturally. However, the researchers still claim that short-term use of melatonin to help better sleep quality is not harmful. 

In addition, a number of studies have claimed that the temporary symptoms of agitation, headache, dizziness or nausea are just the minor side effects. These side effects last for a few hours and do not cause any permanent damage to your health. The medical professionals do not link these side effects to melatonin but according to them,these are the symptoms of lack of sleep that is being treated by melatonin. They do not attribute the symptoms as side effects of melatonin. 

Even taking high doses of melatonin for short-term is safe. However, detailed research with proven conclusions is necessary to prove the the its long-term safety. Studies also support the use of melatonin for promoting sleep as these supplements are not addictive, nontoxic and safe for adults as well children. Researchers also claim that taking high levels of melatonin doesn’t have any effect on the natural production of melatonin in your body. But some short-lived side effects or risks related to melatonin supplements are here:

• Nausea.
• Dizziness.
• Fatigue.
• A cold feeling.
• Daytime sleepiness.
• Headaches.

Daytime Sleepiness

Sleep hygiene expats often recommend the use of melatonin in the evening because it is a sleep aid. Taking melatonin  supplements at other times of the day can cause unwanted and troubled sleepiness during daytime. Although it’s true that sleepiness is not a problem itself, the problems raised due to excessive daytime sleepiness regarding your social and official responsibilities can cause difficulties in your daily life. 

In addition, similar people have reduced the melatonin clearance rate. This means they have a slow rate of removing a drug from their bodies. Reduced melatonin clearance rate makes it difficult for you to awake and stay alert. Sleepiness during daytime is the major problem that people experience when they have higher levels of melatonin in their bloodstream. Supplements make it possible for melatonin to stay for a longer time in your body.

However, in most healthy adults this is not a big problem. This means reduced melatonin clearance rate only affects the infants, children and older adults. Studies also suggest that taking melatonin supplements or injections during daytime often do not cause dizziness or sleepiness. Rather than they help maintain focus. Moreover, many studies showed that injecting melatonin in the body or given it by mouth has no effects on your concentration, reaction time, driving performance, or attention. However, more research is needed to verify all these findings about melatonin and sleepiness.

Other Health related Concerns

Research showed that other than sleepiness, more health related concerns are associated with melatonin supplements are:

Decrease in Body Temperature: Excess melatonin causes a sudden drop in your body temperature that may create problems when you want to keep yourself warm. Otherwise this is not a serious problem.

Thinning of Blood: Raised levels of melatonin in your body causes thinning of blood that often leads to reduced blood coagulation. So ta;k to your doctor before taking high doses of melatonin. Taking blood thinners like warfarin can reduce the severity of the condition.

Interaction with Sleeping Pills: Taking melatonin supplements along with other sleep medications can lead to severe health conditions, such as memory loss or lower muscle performance. 

Interactions with Melatonin: Melatonin has a tendency to interact with other medications feasibly. It not only affects their structures but also alters their effectiveness and increases the side effects risks.

Here’s a list of medications that can interact with melatonin:

• Anticonvulsants.
• Blood thinners.
• Medications for diabetes.
• Sleep aids.
• Sedatives.
• Blood pressure medications.
• Immunosuppressants.
• Antidepressants.
• Oral contraceptives.

If you are taking any of the said medications, don’t forget to talk to your doctor before adding melatonin into your routine. Some studies also suggest that melatonin may also interact with alcohol. The research shows that melatonin levels are disturbed by high consumption of alcohol that often results in disrupted sleep patterns

Pregnancy and Melatonin

Melatonin often transfers to your baby, when you take melatonin during pregnancy. As melatonin is essential for the development of circadian rhythm and both nervous and endocrine systems need this hormone for their perfect development, its use doesn’t harm the fetal nervous system. T also safeguard the baby’s nervous system from oxidative stress.

But still some studies suggest that taking melatonin  during pregnancy can harm the baby’s health and development procedure to some extent. Moreover, no data found to reduce the safety level of melatonin during breastfeeding. 

Melatonin for Children

Although not enough research has been found to prove the effectiveness of melatonin for adolescents and children, healthcare professionals often recommend it for inducing short-term sleepiness in children. Children who receive a moderate amount of melatonin sleep for a longer duration that affects their health positively. Some studies also supported the theory that states that people using melatonin from their childhood had better sleep quality and fell asleep soon.

Conclusion

Melatonin hormone naturally produced in your body. It is characterized as the sleep hormone. This means it helps you  fall asleep at night. It also helps maintain your circadian rhythm and stabilizes your internal clock with the sleep-wake cycle. People experiencing symptoms of insomnia or other sleep conditions, often use melatonin supplements to make up for the deficiency of natural melatonin in their body.

Sometimes melatonin levels drop down in your body that causes sleep disturbances. Melatonin supplements are also considered effective for jet lag and daytime tiredness. 

Talking with your doctor before considering melatonin supplements to resolve your sleep related issues is best. Because your doctor may guide you about the required and perfect timing and dosage of melatonin. 

However, no matter what type of sleep disturbance you have, always start with low dis f 1 to 2 milligram maximum 45 minutes before bed time. You can increase the dose with the passage of time if your sleep latency is not improved. 

Generally, melatonin is safe to use but certain side effects are also associated with high doses. However, stooges have not found any serious complication or risk related to melatonin. More research is needed to check the effects of long-term use of melatonin supplements.