Melatonin works well to help me get to sleep, but it doesn't keep me asleep. My issue is waking multiple times in the night, mostly because I'm just uncomfortable, but my brain will immediately be thinking of some work or personal task and spinning. I solve this by putting on an audiobook each time, and that focuses my attention, and I'm asleep again in 5 minutes. So, I have developed "solutions" to my sleep problems, but they don't really fix the underlying issues.
Also, I don't take melatonin often, only when I seem to need to reset my sleep cycle, and I only take about 200-300 micrograms.
Why do you take so much? 5mg is a lot, according to the studies.
When your tongue relaxes during sleep, it can fall back into the throat and block your airway. This triggers the breathing pauses, gasping, and loud snoring characteristic of obstructive sleep apnea
Thanks. I haven't been checked. People always mention this though, so maybe it's common. But some people are just bad sleepers even without sleep apnea?
I’m not saying it will work for you, but it may be worth trying GABA or 5-HTP to help you stay asleep. As a chronic insomniac of many years, I take both and not melatonin. Sometimes if my sleep schedule gets bad enough I’ll take 25mg of diphenhydramine HCL to get to sleep, but it gives me strange dreams and makes me a little foggy the next morning.
I honestly didn't know you could buy less than 1mg.
I started with 5mg arbitrarily because that seemed to be the most common dosage sold at the time. I think about lowering the dosage sometimes but at the end of the day, I know 5mg works well for me. I don't notice any side effects, and it's not any cheaper.
I also started with the special "slow release" formulas but couldn't tell any difference from the normal generic stuff.
My family doctor in Italy strongly recommended taking 0.3-0.5mg of melatonin maximum saying that more won't have a good effect and risks having bad effects such as drowsiness the whole day after waking up. And yes, in Italy most melatonin you'll find in pharmacies is <=1mg.
Also, I don't take melatonin often, only when I seem to need to reset my sleep cycle, and I only take about 200-300 micrograms.
Why do you take so much? 5mg is a lot, according to the studies.