I was prescribed melatonin when I was 11. In the UK it is only available via prescription (source on that: https://www.simpleonlinepharmacy.co.uk/health-advice/sleep/melatonin/why-is-melatonin-banned-in-the-uk/#article )
My sleep schedule was haywire (hormones + emerging gender dysphoria did not help) but melatonin really helped me. I also think it helped my anxiety a bit? I’m not sure if that was just bc I was sleeping better but I have terrible social anxiety and it seemed to take the edge off it. anyone else? :)
Makes sleeping much harder for me most of the time
That’s weird, paradoxical effect? our brains are different so that makes sense.
Melatonin is a clock-setting hormone, not a sleep aid, and most of the supplements on the (US) market have waaaaay too high a dose. I get excellent results from 150ug (0.15mg) taken 4 hours before bedtime at the same time every night, and I suffered from delayed sleep phase syndrome for decades before figuring this out.
Dumping an entire bathtub full of melatonin (relatively speaking) into one’s brain leads to more problems than it solves, and it’s not even a very good sleep aid on top of that. Because its actual function is as a clock-setting molecule.
This is very a very important distinction, thank you for this reply. Melatonin in high doses administered for a long time has also been loosely correlated with delayed puberty. There are no clinical studies I am aware of that prove this but something I have been concerned about for my children. It’s scary giving any type of medication or supplement to my kids, even those that have decades of research. I’m not advocating for anyone to start or stop taking melatonin but it’s good to be informed about the possible effects. Here’s the journal article I read: Could long-term administration of melatonin to prepubertal children affect timing of puberty? A clinician’s perspective
It is possible that you are taking too much