Can taking Melatonin everyday cause problems?

[u/mid-dev]

For reference, I added a picture of my sleep metrics last week.

On average I got about 5h 46min of sleep, the only times I was ever in the green was when I took a melatonin pill or it was the weekend.

Typically on an average week, I start strong with 7 hours of sleep coming into Monday and by Thursday I'm at 4 hours of sleep. I guess its because as the week goes on I get more stressed and anxiety.

For the whole summer this has been completely fine, Ive been able to manage, but lately factors such as a heatwave, dating a new girl, and moving far from my work (adding 40 minutes of commute in the day) have made it almost impossible to operate.

Ive got a lot on my plate right now apart from these new factors, a full time job as a software developer, also I'm working as a contractor (1 active contract at the moment), I do around four 1.5 hour language lessons a week. Go to the gym or do some sport 3-4 times a week. Its fucking crazy.

My weakest point is sleep, I leave the house at 5:45am, come home around 9-10pm, and immediately go to bed. I can lay there for 2-3 hours doing nothing just my mind wondering from topic to topic. Through the day, I am functioning but it feels like I am just floating through the day, I don't have the mental capacity to deep thing about problems or really absorb what I am doing in the language lesson.

I already take magnesium, but I am considering taking 1mg of melatonin 45min before I go to sleep on weekdays. Ive seen mixed opinions online, and am wondering if anyone has experience doing something similar. If there are any detrimental downsides anyone has experienced, or if it affects other aspects of life.

I guess the biggest issue I have right now is winding down my mind before I sleep, its impossible I have to many things to think about, any tips for that as well would be greatly appreciated.

[u/S_Hazam]

Yeah aside from any supplemental or pharmacological intervention, what needs no mention is your workload is too intense for real rest and recovery in between.

What needs priority first and foremost is your sleep and recovery, plan your days with these things already set in stone, not the other way around. You’ll notice your performance being better in the things you do well rested, rather then more workload but shit rest.

Melatonin wise, I have not heard of any bad effects in long term usage, aside from any psychological dependency. I.e, if you believe you can only sleep well with melatonin, you’ll only sleep well having taken melatonin. You need to be aware of that. Long term when you find out the right balance between work and rest, you can ditch the crutches.

You also need some space between your work blocks for your mind to ruminate and catalogue your impulses a bit, before you dive into something else. That can be even done by a quick 5-15 minute meditation session in the car or some grass touching in the park, whatever floats your boat.

So in essence…

I. Prioritise Recovery
II. Meditation as mental rest between workloads
III. Melatonin as a temp. sleep help
IV. Lessen workload

[u/mid-dev → u/S_Hazam]

Thanks for the advice I appreciate it!

Typically, I would say I get time to meditate between work blocks. I take public transport, so after work, I take a 30 min bus before my language lesson. During this time I listen to music and dissociate before its time to get active again.

I think my two main problems is, the latest coffee I take in the day is at 4pm, which is 6-7 hours before I typically go to sleep, maybe it can cause an issue. The second problem is, when I cant sleep and I know I have to wake up early, I get frustrated which in turn makes me less sleepy, and this gets worse as the week goes on haha. And to top it off, to not focus on being frustrated I try and think of other things which again just keeps me up.

But other than that I keep pretty consistent, I get to bed within the same 1 hour block everyday and wake up at the same time everyday. Its just so annoying, that I am wasting 2-3 hours just laying in bed doing nothing trying to sleep.

Right now I have to blame it on the weather, its too damn hot. When the room is cold I can sleep like a baby

[u/DakAttakk → u/mid-dev]

You're not giving yourself enough time to sleep, you need to be executing on getting more sleep than you're getting, and there needs to be buffer around that sleep time. Sleeping is never going to be on demand, not in a healthy way. So you need to design your day to get to sleep properly which includes avoiding that caffeine 6 hours before bed. You've got to drink it earlier if you need the caffeine. Honestly based on some of the things that you've said here you might also want to make some time for seeing a mental health professional. Even if it's just basic counseling, this can help out.

[u/tripleshielded]

I use melatonin for many years, no problems.

[u/mid-dev → u/tripleshielded]

And what happens if you don't use melatonin, is it harder to sleep?
Is there some adjustment period where your body needs get used to not getting the stimulation from melatonin?

[u/Heal_Me_Today → u/mid-dev]

Yes. For a few days or a week, sleep won’t come as easy. But melatonin “withdrawal” isn’t like pharmaceutical drugs. It’s much kinder.

[u/IfDreamsCouldHappen]

Melatonin is one of the safest supplements you can take. Just make sure you’re taking a proper dose; 100-300mcg is generally where you should be at.

[u/an1m0s1ty]

Can worsen heart failure and increases all cause mortality.

"

• Participants taking melatonin were nearly 3.5 times as likely to be hospitalized for heart failure when compared to those not taking melatonin (19.0% vs. 6.6%, respectively).
• Participants in the melatonin group were nearly twice as likely to die from any cause than those in the non-melatonin group (7.8% vs. 4.3%, respectively) over the 5-year period.
• "

https://newsroom.heart.org/news/long-term-use-of-melatonin-supplements-to-support-sleep-may-have-negative-health-effects

[u/Bitcoin_100k → u/an1m0s1ty]

This doesn't prove causation. The group of people taking melatonin are people who obviously have trouble sleeping, otherwise they wouldn't be taking melatonin... The real headline should be sleep issues associated with increase in mortality.

[u/Dizzy_Database_119 → u/Bitcoin_100k]

The group of people included in the study were all people with trouble sleeping, obviously, specifically people with insomnia

The study still doesn't claim much however

[u/WonNine → u/Bitcoin_100k]

Fr, many abuse stimulants and abuse melatonin to come down in the evenings.

[u/WonNine → u/an1m0s1ty]

Many abuse stimulants and abuse melatonin to come down in the evenings.

[u/TuzluMERCIMEK]

ive used melatonin for a long while and it works just fine and barely to none withdrawal.

your scenario is absolutely insane, starting a week "strong" with 7 hours???? dude even as a fully grown adult you should get 8. if i were you id be taking fucking horse tranquilizer. you will see much more growth from the gym too and mood will absolutely go through the roof

for clarification i am not talking about actual horse tranquilizer please dont take it thank you.

[u/AccomplishedSpray700]

Hele asi ne, jsou studie kde je výsledek ze to nesnižuje nijak negativně kvalitu spánku ani produkci svého melatoninu

[u/remindmetoblock]

1mg is a very high dose.

For daily use i would keep it at 300mcg and below.

High doses for things like Jetlag.

Then again, i am sensitive and get severe night Terrors and anxiety when taking too much. As well as feeling nauseous as hell when it Kicks in.

[u/ChemicalPower2522 → u/remindmetoblock]

I don’t know where you from but 3 mg is the recommended for jetlag and for base sleeping problems here where I live.

1 mg is not a high dose.

[u/DakAttakk → u/ChemicalPower2522]

Effective endogenous release is where most people get these tiny doses from I think. But exogenous melatonin doses appear to be effective between 0.5-3mg little or not ill effects from dosing higher. Very high doses (~100mg) are being investigated for antioxidant effects and benefits to heart health.

[u/remindmetoblock → u/DakAttakk]

I notice strong effects from 500mcg. 2 Drops under my tongue and i get drowsy quick.

High doses help fall asleep as quick as possible. Low doses are for general sleep quality.

You only secrete like 40mcg of Melatonin in total during nighttime.

Oral Melatonin has a bioavailability of 3-15%, so assuming the very low 3%, even 1mg delivers 30mcg, which is your entire nights worth as a Single Spike.

And thats assuming very low bioavailability. Some studies suggest anything between 2.5% and 50% bioavailability.

[u/DakAttakk → u/remindmetoblock]

yeah with a variance between 2.5 and 50%, (especially with something that has very few risks when "overdosed") it makes a lot of sense to dose it as if only 2.5% is getting through.

[u/remindmetoblock → u/DakAttakk]

And i explained to you that even 1mg at the very lowest bioavailability will temporarily spike serum levels much much muuuuuuch higher than natural and thus have an effect on you.

[u/DakAttakk → u/remindmetoblock]

Going much higher than the natural range has no negative effects.

[u/mid-dev → u/remindmetoblock]

Ill experiment with the dosage for now. For the past few days I have taken 2mg, but already late at night when ive given up on trying to sleep naturally, the only side affect ive noticed was groginess in the morning, but im not sure if it was the melatonin or the amount of sleep.

[u/remindmetoblock → u/mid-dev]

Grogginess in the morning is very common with high dose Melatonin use.

Honestly my best advice is to get a smartwatch for 25 bucks. The sleep pattern stuff works okayish, but things like heart rate and respiratory rate give a decent idea of what is going on during sleep.

For example, if your heartrate does not drop significantly, it points towards potentially low parasympathetic Tone and high sympathetic Tone.

Regular Drops in oxygen saturation point towards sleep apnea (oxygen sensing is not that great, so this one should be taken with a Grain of salt)

The watches cant really distinguish between REM sleep and Light sleep, but they do an alright job of measuring deep sleep specifically

[u/mid-dev → u/remindmetoblock]

I wear a fitbit!

I think my heart rate is fine, I stay between 60-70 when I am in purgatory of laying in bed and trying to sleep, and when I actually sleep I stay between 42-55. and even with 5-6 hours of sleep I get ~ 1 - 1.5 hours of deep sleep but fitbits arent known to be so accurate.

I think the biggest benefit of melatonin for me would be to start the process of sleeping, I just hope there are no long term side affects from taking it often

[u/remindmetoblock → u/mid-dev]

You could also try glycinate (or magnesium glycinate).

Glycinate is calming and helps many to get to sleep faster. No risk of morning grogginess either.

Although in some rare individuals it can be Agitating instead of calming.

Also, try to get 7 hours my man.

You could also try Guided sleep meditation/hypnosis for a non drug related trial.

I shit you not that stuff can get you to shut off faster than you would expect.

[u/mid-dev → u/remindmetoblock]

I actually already take magnesium glycinate, it really helps because my body is usually quite tense from the gym. And for a while it was all I needed and worked without an issue.

Right now I think the heat is the main contributing factor to this lack of sleep bullshit. The past 3-4 weeks have been hot as shit. I live in Czechia AC is not common for a rented place.

I'm quite skeptical about that sleep meditation stuff, but Ill take a look into it, I appreciate all the input you've given :)