Can i take melatonin nightly

Before using Melatonin talk with your doctor if you are having any serious allergic reactions or some other serious problems.

How to use Melatonin? If you would like to try melatonin, start taking the supplement at a lower dose. Start with 0. Try increasing your dose to mg if that does not seem to help you fall asleep. Taking more melatonin than this would certainly not help you fall asleep more easily. The aim is to find the lowest dosage that will help to make you fall asleep.

Missed Dose: If you miss a dose, avoid taking Melatonin tablets unless you have time to sleep for 7 to 8 hours afterwards. Skip the missed dose and go back to your daily dosing cycle if you miss a dose of this drug. Do not use duplicate doses. Using this medicinal product only when you are unable to sleep.

Overdose: Symptoms of overdose can include extreme drowsiness, confusion, lack of balance, severe muscle weakness, fainting, or shallow breathing. Overdose of a medicine can lead to some medical emergency. Warnings for some serious Health Conditions: Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: If you are pregnant or if you want to breastfeed, it's best to stop taking melatonin.

Not enough research has been done to know if you and your baby are healthy. In small quantities, melatonin moves into breast milk and this may make a baby more sleepy. Speak to a doctor first before taking melatonin if you intend to breastfeed. Related Stories.

The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription. Need help? Visit our Help Center. Go here to connect your wallet. Researchers are still looking into the optimal melatonin dosage for older adults. One review of sleep aids for older adults suggests a dosage of 1 to 2 mg of immediate-release melatonin 1 hour before bedtime. Additionally, 26 percent of products contained serotonin , which can be potentially harmful even in small doses.

However, information on the effects of long-term melatonin supplements is limited. Some studies have indicated that long-term melatonin use in adults may cause mild side effects when compared to a placebo. Studies into the effects of long-term melatonin use in children remains limited. However, more research is needed. Melatonin is generally safe. However, mild side effects can sometimes occur, particularly if you take higher doses or extended-release formulations.

The side effects of melatonin can include:. If you experience side effects from melatonin , stop taking it and speak with your doctor. They may recommend using a lower dose or trying out an alternative medication or sleep aid. Can you take another dose? While taking an additional dose is unlikely to cause harm , it may increase your risk for experiencing unwanted side effects.

Your doctor may be able to suggest different medications or strategies to help you fall asleep. While you might pick up an over-the-counter melatonin product to help you fall asleep on a restless night, sleep professionals typically recommend melatonin sleep aids only to treat people who have circadian rhythm sleep disorders, says Dr.

Those who have delayed sleep-wake phase syndrome , for example, go to bed and wake up much later than the average person, and taking melatonin one to three hours before bedtime can help reset their circadian rhythm, he explains. This is typically a long-term treatment , and one study found that the majority of participants who had delayed sleep-wake phase syndrome and took melatonin daily for six weeks actually reverted to their pretreatment sleeping patterns within a year after treatment ended.

People who have irregular sleep-wake disorder — a rare disorder that occurs in people with a brain function problem who also don't have a regular routine think: always working different hours and eating at different times during the day — don't sleep with any real schedule.

Melatonin can help anchor their circadian rhythm and help establish regular sleep and wake times, says Dr.

Though this treatment potentially in combination with using bright light therapy and sticking to a daily routine can often help a person get back to a normal sleep-wake cycle, some people may continue to have symptoms, according to the U. National Library of Medicine.

And that includes insomnia. If you're guilty of taking melatonin sleep aid every now and then and you don't have one of those sleep disorders, you're probably OK, says Dr. The National Institutes of Health backs this up too, stating that "short-term use of melatonin supplements appears to be safe for most people. Still, melatonin is considered a dietary supplement, so the Food and Drug Administration regulates it less strictly than a prescription or over-the-counter drug.

Because of this leniency, your supplement might not contain exactly what the product label states. Case in point: A study of 31 melatonin supplements found that, in many of the supplements, the actual melatonin content was anywhere from 83 percent lower to percent higher than what was listed on the label. Problems can also arise if you take a melatonin supplement with too high of a dosage, says Dr. So much for a restful night of zzzs. So if it's fine to take some on particularly rough nights of sleep, is it bad to take melatonin every night?

The NIH notes that "information on the long-term safety of supplementing with melatonin is lacking," and although Dr.