Should you take melatonin to help sleep? 10 bonus sleep hacks!
Well, let's start off with melatonin. What is melatonin? Melatonin is a hormone produced in
the pineal gland.This gland is the size of a pea, located in your brain and melatonin helps
regulate the sleep cycle. So think about melatonin as a switch. So when it is light during day time
melatonin is not active and it is switched off, however, when it's dark at night time
melatonin is switched on and is active. So what are the indications for melatonin?
There's evidence in studies that melatonin helps to prevent or treat jet lag it has also been shown
to be of benefit with shift workers. So when you get older melatonin levels decline gradually over
the lifespan and maybe related to lower sleep efficacy, and also remember when you get older the
rate of pineal gland calcification increases which in turn affects melatonin production. Nowadays,
melatonin is used by many adults who have trouble falling asleep. So, what about melatonin dosing?
So, if you start with melatonin, start at the lowest dose and titrate up slowly.In the US
melatonin is regarded as a supplement and can be bought over the counter. Since the FDA
is not regulating these supplements, the melatonin content can vary from
manufacturer to manufacturer. I would recommend that you look for the following labels GLP
stands for good laboratory practice and GMP good manufacturing practice. In that way in terms of
the quality of the product you're getting close to what is displayed on the label. So, going back
to the dosing which is recommended.So in terms of recommended dosing i would recommend starting
off at 0.1 milligram to 0.3 milligrams for sleep and 0.3 milligrams to 0.5 milligrams
for shift workers and jet lag. The highest I would recommend would be to go up to about 3 milligrams.
I would also not use melatonin for more than two to three months and the reason being that higher
dosing especially the ones being sold at five milligrams or 10 milligrams and if given over
a longer period of time will result in higher than physiological concentrations resulting in a number
of effects such as hypothermia, meaning decreasing your body temperature and daytime sleepiness. It
can also affect mental and physical well-being, so, when can I take melatonin? I would recommend
that you take it two to three hours before you're going to bed. And, if you're finding value in this
video don't forget to like comment and share and hit that notification button and smash that
subscribe button as well! So, can melatonin cause side effects? Generally it's pretty safe, however,
it can cause daytime grogginess and some people have complained about dizziness and headaches
and other people have complained about stomach cramps as well. What about melatonin and safety
concerns? If you're pregnant please talk to your doctor as it is possibly unsafe during pregnancy,
also patients who are diabetics it might increase your blood sugars, and, if you're
on certain blood pressure medications such as beta blockers such as Atenolol or Propanolol,
melatonin levels may be lowered. Melatonin may also worsen symptoms of depression.And
if you're interested in the side effects of common medications click on the link above.
So, what are 10 important steps you can do or what are 10 hacks you can do to improve your sleep?
And we doctors like to talk about these hacks as sleep hygiene.So, number one go to bed
and get up from your bed at the same time daily even on the weekends. Make it a habit.
Number two have coffee and tea only in the morning. Number three
don't drink fluids excessively before you go to bed this will make you get up in the
middle of the night and you need to pee and your sleep will be interrupted. Number four
keep your bedroom dark, draw your curtains or your blinders. Number five keep your room cool,
the best temperatures recommended are about 65 degrees Fahrenheit this is about 18 degrees
Celsius. Number six keep your room quiet avoiding anything which can interfere with your sleep
such as your tv your Ipad, radio.Number seven avoid drinking and smoking before going to bed.
Number eight avoid looking at devices such as your phones or your kindles or your Ipads or any
other device where light can be given off which can interfere with your sleep. Number 10 avoid
eating before going to bed, you don't want to have a large meal before you go to bed. Number 10 I
would again emphasize that the most important thing you can do is to exercise regularly.
Regular exercise improves the quality of sleep. And I'm going to give you a Bonus Tip as well.
And if you can increase the bright light exposure during the day, especially, in the morning.
By seeing daylight in the morning your body will produce less melatonin and then increase
production at night time. Question of the day? Are you using melatonin and is it helping with
your sleep? And if you want to see more videos don't forget to like, comment and subscribe and
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YOUR HEALTH and have a good day! Done iI thought this was going to be easy okay let's start again
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