Ask the Doctor about Melatonin

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Ask the Doctor about Melatonin

by Alan Christianson, NMD

Melatonin, at standard dosages, can safely help correct some sleep disturbances.

Melatonin is a hormone normally produced in your body by the pineal gland. It serves to trigger the body's sleep response. As we age, or when we are under stress, we tend to produce less of this hormone.

Safe dosages range from 200 micrograms
(1000 micrograms = 1 milligram) to 5 milligrams.
It is best to start with low dosages and increase if needed. If too much is taken, one can feel drowsy or lethargic the next day. These effects are gone by the following day. Some people can fall deeply asleep after taking melatonin only to wake at 2 or 3 in the morning, unable to return to sleep. If this is the case, try a time release form of melatonin.

Melatonin can also be valuable to prevent or treat jet lag. It helps for two reasons.

First, it can be used to reset your biological clock if you are going to a different time zone. This is most needed when traveling East as it is harder to set your clock back than ahead.

Secondly, melatonin serves to protect the brain against oxidative damage. During air travel, you are exposed to higher than normal amounts of ionizing radiation since you are above some of the protective ozone layer.

Melatonin also regulates some areas of immune function in the central nervous system. Along these lines very high doses of melatonin is being used experimentally as an adjunctive therapy in treating cancers originating or metastasizing to the brain.