Does Melatonin Do Anything?

  So your buddy used to have trouble sleeping until he started taking melatonin. And now he claims he’s sleeping like a baby. So you think, hey, may be there’s something to this stuff. Should you try it? Now, we can’t give medical advice. If you think you might have a sleep disorder, you should definitely see your doctor. But we can tell you a little bit about how melatonin supplements work.

 Melatonin is a chemical that’s made in your brain, and it helps to regulate your circadian rhythm. So for a while now, people have been taking it as a supplement, to help them sleep. And one analysis of the literature says it helps people with circadian sleep disorders fall asleep a little faster and stay asleep ever so slightly longer -- better than placebo, but not as good as prescription sleep drugs.

  Not all of the research even found that much, so the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends doctors not use melatonin to treat insomnia -- just because the findings are so mixed. And melatonin isn’t a drug. It’s a supplement, and in the United States that means it’s only loosely regulated by the FDA -- they don’t monitor supplements before they go to market.

 I could put dragon fruit extract pills in a bottle, say it “supports memory” call it a supplement, and the FDA couldn’t do a thing as long I slapped on a disclaimer. We’re being a bit facetious here but this is actually a  long and very interesting story, check out the doobly doo for more. So anyway, there are a few things you should consider before you go all in on melatonin. 

First, melatonin has pretty poor bioavailability. Something that’s bioavailable gets taken up and used by your body, while something that’s not is basically wasted. One study showed that when you take melatonin orally, only 15% of it actually makes it into your bloodstream. The rest probably gets broken down by your liver. Another study found that melatonin might be more bio available as a nasal spray [55-94%] … at least if you’re a rabbit. It hasn’t been studied in humans yet. But! Research /has/ found that oral sprays or cheek patches were also more effective than pills or gummies because the melatonin probably skips your digestive system. 

Second, the jury is very much still out on what the “right” dose of melatonin is. Frequently you’ll see 3 mg. But a small study from MIT found that, for older adults with insomnia, doses as low as 0.3 or 0.1 mg (that’s 1/10th and 1/30th of the regular dose) had basically the same effect as the 3 mg dose. Oh, and that was oral melatonin -- so the dose getting into their systems was even lower. That was just for insomnia, though. In people with normal sleep patterns, melatonin didn’t seem to make any difference at all. Also, the study found that at the 3 mg dose, melatonin could remain in people’s systems into much of the next day… which might not make you the most bright-eyed and bushy-tailed person...

 Finally, it may be worth your time to make sure that what’s on the label is exactly what’s in the bottle. One study found that the amount of melatonin in some pills was not remotely close to the amount on the label: from 83% less than there was supposed to be to almost 500% more. That variability was not only between different melatonin products, but different lots of the same product as well. 

Even worse, some melatonin products contained serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is present in our brains, and it’s chemically similar to melatonin. But serotonin can be dangerous in high doses, and dangerous is not a surprise you want in your sleeping pills. If you want to be sure that the label is accurate, look for something that says it conforms to USP standards. 

United States Pharmacopeia is a weird name, but they look out for the quality and purity of drugs and some supplements. If a supplement maker volunteers to comply with their standards, it means what you see on the label is really what you’re gonna get, although it doesn’t tell you whether it works. Here’s what you should take away: 

Research shows melatonin may help some people sleep better. But it’s pretty far from being a miraclepill, and even if it does work for you, the benefits might be slight. So there’s a lot to keep in mind while you shop. Before you go, we wanna tell you guys about the new show Hot Mess from PBS Digital Studios. It’s all about the hot mess we’ve gotten our planet into and how to get out of it. Head on over there and give it a try, it’s gonna be great. Thanks for joining us this week, and to make sure you get more articles  like this one please click follow here, See ya next week!