They only make me sleep sometimes not all the time
In: Biology
Most people use melatonin wrong. It is best used when people need to sleep earlier than normal because they need to wake up earlier or when they lack physical activity and simply cannot feel sleepy at regular time. It is not that good when people have poor sleep hygiene and have high adrenergic response on nighttime and want to sleep without solving those issues.
Over the counter melatonin pills/gummies/whatevers are not regulated as strictly as actual medications are.
One of those med regulations is that *every* pill has to have the exact dose listed. Melatonin isn’t usually mixed that evenly. So a “5 mg” pill may have 8 mg or 1 mg.
They just have to dump enough melatonin into the mix that when divided by the total pills made the math shows 5 mg per pill.
Your brain makes melatonin (referred to as M due to my laziness) naturally, by itself. When you take a melatonin pill your brain says “okay, I have more than enough M in the body. I don’t need to make any more” and stops making M. If you take it every night your brain gets used to producing little to no M. This is the whole if-you-dont-use-it-you-lose-it phenomenon that happens through the body.
A similar example is if someone stops using their legs, their muscle mass begins to decrease. Eventually they will lose so much muscle that they will lose their ability to walk (although this is an extreme case)
Using M pills every night may cause you to become dependent upon those will and be unable to sleep without them because your M making machine inside your brain is lessened.
Now, to actually answer your question. M isn’t going to knock you out like a lot of alcohol or some sedatives will. My melatonin simply helps transition your brain into sleep. You need to have other factors in conjunction with M to help you sleep.
– Blue light destroys M in the brain. The sun produces blue light, as do electronics such as TV and cellphone. Reduce electronics and hour before bed
– cooler temperatures aid sleep. Consider a fan or an AC unit.
– don’t consume caffeine or nicotine several hours before bed. These are stimulants and work against sleep.
– alcohol may make you unconscious, but it actually destroys M in the brain. You will have a more restful/continuous sleep without booze.
So I don’t know what’s interrupting your sleep OP, but those are common culprits.
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