They only make me sleep sometimes not all the time
In: Biology
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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