Melatonin: To Sleep or not to Sleep?

One of the most important aspects in life is sleep itself. As easy as this little necessity can be, some people find it extremely hard to fully achieve. In todays day and age, sleep can be prevented by many factors including the blue light that shines off of your electronics, stress, and plain old insomnia. Melatonin is a hormone primarily released at night and has long been associated with control of the sleep–wake cycle. When a person cannot sleep, it is most likely that their body is not producing enough melatonin. This is where the dietary supplement that also goes by the name of melatonin comes in. Melatonin is produced in gummy and pill form and will put you right to sleep.

Melatonin is a natural substance that we produce therefore the melatonin supplements we put into our body is not harmful and is not artificial. It is said to be a non-habit-forming hormone supplement meaning that you can take it on a nightly basis without the fear of consequences and addiction. Although, my cousin, Gregory Gerardi, has had a different experience with the non-habit-forming statistic. It wasn’t a physical addiction but more of a mental, in your own head type issue. He explained that, “It may be possible that prolonged use can lead to a psychological dependence which can increase anxiety and make it difficult to break the habit”.

According to US Health Officials, Taking melatonin has many benefits including improving sleep while regulating the bodies needs, helping seasonal depression, and enhancing eye health. It also reduces the levels of dopamine, which is a hormone that helps you stay awake. Melatonin is a life saver to moms who need their children to stay on a sleep schedule so they can function when it comes morning. Without Melatonin, some college students who need a lot of good sleep in order to pass, would not be able to succeed.

Along with the pros, there are still some cons of melatonin. These cons include headaches and dizziness during the day after taking the supplement the night before, sleepiness and irritability. All of the symptoms caused by melatonin occur because the supplement has the possibility to disrupt your circadian rhythm. In some of the melatonin pills and gummies, the recommended dosage is tripled from the regular amount in a signal dose which leads to drowsiness.

It is not advised to start taking unneeded melatonin if a regular amount of sleep is already being achieved. While research on the long-term effects of melatonin use seems to be limited, it is thought that prolonged use can decrease the body’s natural production of this hormone making it difficult for some people when discontinuing supplementation.

On another note, Melatonin use can lead to very vivid dreams during the night. This is due to the fact that extra melatonin can boost the amount of vasotocin that’s let loose in your brain which leads to longer periods of memory-erasing sleep. The more Rem sleep, a normal circadian phenomenon that is used to consolidate some forms of memory, the more detailed and vibrant dreams. Lafayette High School student Mary Nice experiences very “out there” dreams the nights she can not get to sleep, and is left to take melatonin. She exclaimed, “My dreams are unlike anything else once I take melatonin, I usually don’t even remember my dreams and now they come to me so vividly.”

According to NCBI US National Library of Health website, the sales of melatonin were increased by more than 500 percent from the years of 2003 and 2014. The total amount of commerce made from the supplement in 2003 was 62 million dollars and was raised to 378 million by the time 2014 rolled around. The growth of this product was raised by the fact that people embrace using natural produces and substances. Sleep is so important these days and it really is the building block of health. During the long running Covid- 19 pandemic, every citizen world-wide has lost countless hours of sleep due to the constant worry and strife. This has also contributed to the new growth in melatonin sales. It was shown that production companies are still catching up from all of the last year’s skyrocket in sales.

In the end, taking melatonin is your choice based on what you feel is right for you and your body. I decided to take it tonight to try it out and I will let you know how it…. zzzzz