Luse of supplements melatonin to improve sleep And increased by 425 percent among Americans over the past twenty years. An impressive leap, documented in a study published in scientific magazine JAMA.
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In Italyafter Covid, only in a year Purchases of supplements and herbal teas grew by almost 60 percent for peaceful nights and mental well-being (2022 data reported by Only 24 hours). The anxiety economy, as it has been defined.
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What do the experts say? In truth, they recommend that insomniacs do a medical check-up before going to the pharmacy, to understand whether the cause of the discomfort when darkness falls is a health problem that needs to be treated. The sleep apnea, say, or restless legs syndrome. And anxiety, which makes it difficult to fall asleep, and depression, which perhaps makes your eyes widen at three in the morning, must be assessed. In fact, however, what happens is that people resort to supplements, which are available without a prescription and at relatively low costs. The offer on the shelves is varied: formulations from 1 to 5 grams, pure melatonin or combined with vitamins and other molecules.
Many wonder if it is risky to take the substance, if it is really effective, if it causes side effects. The short answers coincide: it depends. To orient yourself, it is better to have the main information, starting from the mechanism of action.
photo by Nicola Majocchi
Sleep and melatonin: how does it work?
Some think that melatonin is a kind of chamomile in pill form, the extract of a plant. It is not so. The active ingredient of the supplements is obtained in the laboratory by reproducing the hormone that our brain naturally synthesizes. When it starts to get dark outside and the light becomes dimmer, theepiphysisor pineal gland, no larger than a pea, begins to secrete melatonin, which pushes us to sleep and which binds with powerful effects to receptors present throughout the body. Our functions slow down, our eyelids droop.
As grows L’darkness hormone, levels of another hormone, cortisol, decrease, called stress, which keeps us alert and awake. Taking a melatonin supplement is a bit like taking a dose of sunset, convincing your body that night is coming. He doesn’t put you to sleep, he says it’s time to sleep. Thus, while a sleeping pill has an immediate sedative effect, even if taken in mid-afternoon, melatonin does not, it can only make it easier to fall asleep in the evening.
The substance, more than anything else, has an impact on the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle, helping to set circadian rhythms, that internal clock of approximately 24 hours that synchronizes the organism with the outside world, with light and darkness. . It is usually indicated to avoid disturbances caused by shift work and jet lag, or jet lag syndrome, when travelling.
Sleep: how effective is a supplement?
Evidence suggests that supplements Melatonin can help you fall asleep faster, but not help you stay asleep throughout the night. In a meta-analysis of 19 studies on 1,683 men and women (published in 2013 in PLOS One), it emerged that taking it brought falling asleep seven minutes earlier and increased overall sleep time by eight minutes. It may appear to be a minimal variation, but it is an average and for some, taking the supplement or not would make a notable difference. The researchers also found that it improved the overall quality of the night, including waking up more refreshed.
In other words, it is not a placebo, the effectiveness is documented, but there is no guarantee that melatonin works for everyone. It may happen that some do not close their eyes at all and that others wake up groggy the next morning.
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What is the right dosage?
Our endogenous synthesis, i.e. by the epiphysis, is minimal, so much so that the picogram is used as a unit of measurement, equivalent to one billionth of a gram. Over-the-counter supplements have much higher doses, because the amount that ultimately reaches the brain is closer to that produced naturally.
The advice is usually to start with the lowest dosage available0.5 milligrams to 1 milligram, to be taken once half an hour before bedtime, and see how it goes for a few days. If your insomnia does not improve, you can increase it gradually, but if you wake up feeling dizzy, perhaps the dose is too high and it is better to reduce it.
Are there any side effects?
Taking melatonin supplements in low doses for a short time is unlikely to be harmful or addictive (unlike hypnotic drugs such as benzodiazepines), while high amounts, taken over long periods, can cause nausea, dizziness, headaches and anxiety . In all cases, given that the melatonin can cause drowsiness, the advice is not to drive within five hours of taking it.
There is a curious and frequent side effect that may not be unpleasant: many people report having it more vivid dreams, and scientists still can’t explain why. If, however, nightmares appear, it is advisable to lower the dosage or stop.
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Sleep supplements: how to choose?
Supplements are not subject to the same regulations as drugs, their trade is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, the EMA in Europe and the AIFA in Italy. It may happen that the melatonin concentration does not correspond exactly to the indicated percentage (this happens in 70 percent of products, according to a study published in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine) and that the combination with other substances or vitamins has not been tested in scientific works. To choose the brand, you can ask the opinion of your GP, pharmacist or do some tests on yourself. For the formulation, in pills, gummies or liquids, only personal preferences apply
The connection with diet
Eating dinner with certain specific foods helps the production of melatonin. Melatonin is contained in some plant foods, such as oats, rice, corn, cocoa, tomatoes, cabbage and fruit. However, it does not seem that the table can affect the body’s levels and therefore sleep.
To know instead An essential amino acid is essential for the natural synthesis of melatoninthat is, a building block of proteins to be taken in with food: the tryptophan. It is found mostly in legumes, Whole grains, dried fruit with shell, bananas, chocolate, fish, shellfish, dates, sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds, eggs, mango, white and red meat. Scientific literature reports that its concentration in the blood tends to reduce with age, so you need to pay attention to your diet especially after the age of 65. Tryptophan reaches the brain more easily, for the production of melatonin, if you eat foods that contain carbohydrates. Bread and milk, a classic dish of the old people of the past, or a bean soup and fruit.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and science communicator. On iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you can find his podcast series The good that I want.
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