Is melatonin safe?

[Preety_India]

I'm thinking about getting melatonin for sleep issues. 

@electroBeammaybe you have some experience with this. Is it safe to take it? 

 

 

[electroBeam]

Wow i knew you were calling me without even opening the thread!

If you want to base your advice on purely my experience specifically, I'd say its definitely safe. I've even taken RIMAS with it without problem(not that i recommend you do that, RIMAS are the stuff you take with ayahuasca).

But there are side effects(as with any allopathic medication) which can range from feeling groggy throughout the day, to fatigue. It can also fuck up your sleep pattern depending on what's going on with you. An issue i had was i tried to use it to sleep when i had anxiety, and i ended up just waking up at 3am anyway(when it wore off). The side effects get worse the more frequently you use it. 

Ultimately its always best to sort this shit out without medication, to reduce long term side effects, but of course if its your only option, its better then no sleep at all and worth it considering its safe.

[Preety_India]

@electroBeam thank you so much. 

[Hello from Russia]

It is good, just need to be smart about using it and try to not rely on it too much

[Michael569]

The risk of melatonin is that it is a hormone and whenever we supplement hormones we risk interacting with our natural secretions (e.g. pineal melatonin). It can be helpful in the short term but in the end, it is best to try to find what's causing the impaired sleep. 

I've noticed in my life that if I eat within 2 hours prior to sleep or use a computer after this period, my sleep is broken that night, perhaps I'm very sensitive to the blue light, it may be individual. Also, getting a sleeping mask or proper pitch-black window blinds can make a tremendous difference  

So see if there are these small things that could be driving the bad sleep. Also, a cup of coffee takes around 6-9 hours to completely dissolve and leave so the 6pm coffee may still be in your system in midnight preventing adenosine binding. 

[Rayster]

I used to consume it before when I'm on a Night Shift, making sure to sleep around 4-5am before the sunrise to make sure I have uninterrupted sleep.

Now that I regained my normal body clock, I don't take it anymore. It's at the side of my bed anyways and only when I need it. But I agree with people here, balance is the key.