this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Asklemmy
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Melatonin
I can't do sleep hygiene. My cell phone is the first and last thing I see every day. I stare at screens all day for work and for leisure. With moderate melatonin use I can somehow maintain regular and restful sleep.
No side effects if you use it responsibly (e.g. 5 days on, 2 days off, stick with low doses). Very safe. Can improve sleep even if you're already sleeping well. I don't know why more people aren't on it.
A fun hack for melatonin is that smaller doses work better than larger doses.
Yes! Scientific trials have shown that for most people, 0.3mg of melatonin gives better quality of sleep than 3mg.
I've seen pills as high as 10mg on the shelf and have to wonder wtf they're for. If you take too much your body becomes less sensitive to it and you become dependent on supplementation. 10mg is definitely too much.
It's crazy isn't it, 10mg.
I was prescribed (it's prescription-only in my country) 2mg but after I read up on it I cut it to 0.5.
Yep, this seems to the magic number; I shudder when I hear people taking like 5-10mg. How can that be safe unless most of it is destroyed via digestion
Since it's a natural hormone the body already has ways to get rid of it. It has a half-life of less than an hour. The lethal dose is so high we haven't been able to intentionally kill animals with it: "Melatonin is not fatal even at a dose of 800 mg/kg in animal studies".
The big risk of ongoing high doses is becoming so dependent on it that you wake up as soon as it wears off (e.g. after only 4 hours of sleep). At this level you basically can't sleep without it and have to slowly wean yourself off to get back to normality.
I found my dreams were extremely vivid and often extra-disturbing when my dose was high to the extent Im implying. Also, because it was so vivid and palpable, I just didnt feel rested cuz I was so engaged/engrossed by it