Can melatonin gummies solve children’s bedtime problems? Experts advise caution.
The latest strategy for getting restless children to sleep through the night is to give them gummies and lozenges containing melatonin, a trend that worries some doctors.
Is melatonin a natural sleep aid?
Most people think that the melatonin is a natural sleep aid, something like chamomile tea in pill form. Even the name of the popular dietary supplement sounds sleepy: that long ‘o’ sound almost makes you yawn halfway. But melatonin is also a hormone that our brain produces naturally, and hormones, even in minute amounts, can have powerful effects throughout the body.
Experts strongly recommend that people consult their doctor or sleep specialist before taking melatonin, in part because the supplement doesn’t address many underlying health conditions that can disrupt sleep. Anxiety can cause insomnia, as can other potentially serious conditions, such as sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or mood disorders such as depression, which may need treatment. medical.
However, melatonin is relatively cheap and readily available in pharmacies, and many people go out and buy it on their own.
In France, melatonin is sold as a food supplement (in pharmacies or in supermarkets and hypermarkets) when a tablet contains less than 2 mg of active substance. Beyond that, it is a drug delivered on prescription (Circadin, for example).
Melatonin as a dietary supplement
If you’re like most people, you’re probably not getting enough sleep. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three adults does not get the recommended seven hours of sleep per night.
This can lead to various health problems, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. It can also have negative effects on mood, memory and concentration.
Sleep supplements can help improve the quality and quantity of sleep. The most common ingredients in sleep supplements are melatonin, valerian root, and chamomile. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the body’s sleep-wake cycle. Valerian root is a herbal extract that has been used to treat insomnia for centuries. Chamomile is a calming herb that can help reduce anxiety and promote relaxation.
If you’re having trouble getting a good night’s sleep, ask your doctor if a sleep supplement might be right for you.
How does melatonin work?
During the day, the brain’s pineal gland, the size of a pea, is inactive. A few hours before our natural bedtime, when it starts to get dark and the light entering our retina fades, the gland lights up to flood the brain with melatonin.
“Melatonin is sometimes called the ‘darkness hormone’ or the ‘vampire hormone’ because it appears at night, explains Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California at Berkeley. When melatonin levels rise, cortisol levels, the stress hormone, drop. Breathing slows. Soon the eyelids begin to droop.
So taking a melatonin supplement is like taking a dose at sunset, tricking your body into feeling like it’s night. It does not make you sleep, but rather communicates to the body that it is time to sleep.
Melatonin may make you a little sleepier when you take it, but it has a bigger impact on timing your overall sleep-wake cycle and helps adjust your circadian clock, the internal timer of regarding 24 hours that tells your body what time of day it is and synchronizes it with the outside world.
How effective is melatonin?
In a 2013 analysis published in PLOS One, which combined the results of 19 studies involving 1,683 men and women, people who took melatonin supplements fell asleep seven minutes faster and increased their total sleep time. eight minutes. It may not seem like much, but there was a lot of individual variation, and researchers found that melatonin also improved overall sleep quality, including people’s ability to wake up feeling refreshed.
But there is no guarantee that melatonin will work for you.
The dose to take
Many experts recommend starting with the smallest dose available — 0.5 milligrams to 1 milligram, 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime — and see how you do. If this does not work, the dose can be increased gradually.
“Feeling groggy or hungover is a sign that the dose is probably too high. »
Are there any side effects?
The good news: In the short term, at least, melatonin is unlikely to do any harm.
“Compared to most other sleeping pills, the side effect profile is much better,” and it won’t be addictive, said Bhanu Prakash Kolla, associate professor of psychiatry and consultant at the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine. But because melatonin can cause drowsiness, the Mayo Clinic warns once morest driving or using machinery within five hours of taking it.
Bottom line, if you give a patient melatonin and don’t supplement it with behavioral therapy for insomnia, you’re not necessarily going to have the effects you’re looking for. You have to identify the root of the problem.