Melatonin: Fact or Fiction?

I’ve been taking 1-2mg a night for the past 6+ months. I’ve used it before that on and off with great success.

Taking too much 2-4mg kept me up all night; so I’d build your way up.

I don’t think it’s addictive…there have been nights that I’ve forgot to take it and slept just fine. I didn’t use it at all last week when on vaca and slept ok.

Once this bottle is gone I plan to give Tryptophan a try instead. (and/or go back to ZMA)

Works well for me if I work with it. If I’m doing stuff and around light for over an hour past my dose I’ll feel my drowsiness wear off, of course. So it’s not anything that knocks me out or anything…

It never worked for me. I’ve always been very anxious in general, but I digress. In an attempt to hijack the thread to a degree, about a year ago, I remember reading an article which actually SUPPORTED taking 5 grams of melatonin before resistance training as there was evidence that it increased either GH or test levels and kept them elevated after exercise more than those who did not use it.

None of the people in the melatonin sample group experienced any drowsiness. I myself tried this for a few weeks and mainly noticed that afterwards I felt calmer than I otherwise would. Has anyone else heard anything about this? I know Bill Roberts, Chris Collucci and BBB read a lot of articles as well. Thoughts?

Works well for me. I have nightmares though, but still worth it. Last night they did open heart surgery on me while I was awake. When I was leaving the hospital, I pushed the elevator button to go down. The door didn’t open, but instead, everything around the elevator went up. I freaked out and grabbed onto a rung on the wall, which took me way high into the sky. I was freaking out because my body was all stretched out from hanging on and I was worried that the stitches would break.

3mg

i think ill try it out.

thanks for the responses

I have it on hand and use it every once in a blue moon.

I only take it when I’m really need it. Problem is it’s hard tell how well it works because I’m taking it for a particular reason. I have at times noticed I get really groggy within 30 minutes, and other times I notice nothing. So annecdotally, from my experience, I can’t say if it’s placebo effect or if it actually works.

I would say that it’s a probably a very bad idea to take for multiple nights per week.

[quote]laroyal wrote:
and switch from regular fish oil to Krill oil. Hope this helps.
[/quote]

I thought this was no longer recommended?

I use melatonin occasionally. It works well especially when my sleep schedule is messed up. However, I would recommend taking it AT LEAST 1 hour before bed. If I don’t do this I find it has a strange effect, wherein I tend to wake up in the middle of the night and can’t easily get back to sleep.

Above melatonin, I would recommend a GABA supplement. I find high quality GABA helps me get to sleep and stay asleep unlike anything besides RX Ambien (which left me feeling more refreshed than anything before or since).

In fact, Z-12 is a second generation GABA product. I’ve never tried it, but if it works better than GABA, might be worth a shot.

-m

It worked pretty well for me 9/10 times, other times I couldn’t sleep from it and ended up thinking to much when trying to doze off. It gave me some pretty fucked up dreams as well, usually about stuff I tried to repress, so not good. I always think of it like alcohol, a truth serum, only it works when you sleep :smiley:

[quote]wfifer wrote:
beastnuts48 wrote:
The Stuff works and it gives me some bad ass dreams. I was riding a dragon and God came up to me and started singing foo fighters. It could have also been the acid I took but you never know these days…

I’d just like to congratulate you on having the most badass dream ever.
[/quote]

Nice photoshop! LOL

Oh, and to OP and everyone else on this thread - Once the usual maladies have been rules out( prescription drugs, stress, diet, health conditions such as sleep apnea) the single biggest factor, and the biggest indicator of healthy sleep, is one simple hormone.

Growth Hormone.

GH levels start to decline at 25. By the time your 32, they are half of what they were at 25. By the time you hit 40, they have declined another 50% on top of the 50% that was already gone.

I.E, all above ideas are great for a short term fix. But one of the first signs of declining GH, aside from your 30th birthday, would be lack of quality, deep, restoritive sleep.

I would suggest starting with a combo of GHRH and GHRP before I went with straight GH injections.

Oh, and one trick I would use with melatonin. The problem with it is that its release is not extended enough.

One way to fix this is to buy the extended release version, and then double cap it with an empty pill cap. You can buy these online.

This will slow the release so you get even more melatonin spread out throughout the night.

[quote]redgladiator wrote:
laroyal wrote:
and switch from regular fish oil to Krill oil. Hope this helps.

I thought this was no longer recommended?[/quote]

Two of the best and yet simple ways to improve your overall health with supplements include:
Increasing your intake of antioxidants …
Increasing your intake of omega-3 oils …
If you recall, antioxidants are your body’s #1 way to neutralize free radicals, those harmful metabolic byproducts that damage cells and tissues throughout your body.
Scientific evidence has repeatedly demonstrated that antioxidants are a cornerstone in the promotion of heart health, immune system support, and memory support. Antioxidants also appear to play a role in helping to slow your signs of aging.
Fish oil is weak in antioxidant content. As you increase your intake of omega-3 essential fatty acids by consuming fish oil, you actually increase your need for even more antioxidant protection.
Why? Well, fish oil is very perishable. Antioxidants are necessary to ensure that the fish oil doesn’t oxidize and become rancid inside your body. As we just noted, oxidation leads to the formation of those unhealthy free radicals.
Although many foods contain antioxidants, today’s poor-quality diets are nearly always insufficient in the full range of these beneficial free radical scavengers. That’s why I strongly recommend increasing your antioxidant intake as a valuable way to optimize your health

When someone’s sleep cycle indicates disturbance at the time the lung meredian filters I usually switch them to Krill oil to kill 2 birds with one stone. I still believe in rotating fish oils, but krill is a real powerhouse! It stopped recieving attention primarily because of it’s potential effect on the enviorment (if everyone used krill) but I still recommend it for certain situations.

[quote]laroyal wrote:
redgladiator wrote:
laroyal wrote:
and switch from regular fish oil to Krill oil. Hope this helps.

I thought this was no longer recommended?

Two of the best and yet simple ways to improve your overall health with supplements include:
Increasing your intake of antioxidants …
Increasing your intake of omega-3 oils …
If you recall, antioxidants are your body’s #1 way to neutralize free radicals, those harmful metabolic byproducts that damage cells and tissues throughout your body.
Scientific evidence has repeatedly demonstrated that antioxidants are a cornerstone in the promotion of heart health, immune system support, and memory support. Antioxidants also appear to play a role in helping to slow your signs of aging.
Fish oil is weak in antioxidant content. As you increase your intake of omega-3 essential fatty acids by consuming fish oil, you actually increase your need for even more antioxidant protection.
Why? Well, fish oil is very perishable. Antioxidants are necessary to ensure that the fish oil doesn’t oxidize and become rancid inside your body. As we just noted, oxidation leads to the formation of those unhealthy free radicals.
Although many foods contain antioxidants, today’s poor-quality diets are nearly always insufficient in the full range of these beneficial free radical scavengers. That’s why I strongly recommend increasing your antioxidant intake as a valuable way to optimize your health

When someone’s sleep cycle indicates disturbance at the time the lung meredian filters I usually switch them to Krill oil to kill 2 birds with one stone. I still believe in rotating fish oils, but krill is a real powerhouse! It stopped recieving attention primarily because of it’s potential effect on the enviorment (if everyone used krill) but I still recommend it for certain situations.
[/quote]

“Antioxidants prevent health-promoting effects
of physical exercise in humans” http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/05/11/0903485106.full.pdf+html?sid=de19a468-4204-40da-be1a-89e9225eb786

I find it helps, and take it now and again. I used to take 3mg and feel rough the next day. Or sometime go out like a light and wake up 3 hours later wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. I now break the tab in half and find it works well, I heard less is more with melatonin, and it seems to work for me. Doing this also make it really cheap.

I also find magnesium helpful for sleep.

I was using 5mg of Melatonin and didn’t notice a single difference. My dad also tried the same dosing and said he noticed a little difference right away, but after a week it was gone. Placebo effect?

ZMA on the other hand…

Melatonin works for me. I only use it on nights when I’m too stressed to fall asleep quickly. I take 0.5-1mg about 30 minutes before bed, and I’m out like a light. I also used ZMA, which I felt gave me BETTER sleep, but didn’t make me drowsy or sleepy.

Using melatonin sublingually(under the tongue) seems to be the most effective way to take it.