On this episode of I CARE FOR YOUR BRAIN with Dr. Sullivan, board licensed neuropsychologist Dr. Karen D. Sullivan discusses …
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The Brain Science of Melatonin
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I learned about Delayed Sleep Wake Phase Disorder, and will be recommending this episode to my PCP & Sleep Disorder Center docs. Never heard of it before, but it describes me uncannily accurately.
Have had regular sleep studies since 1996, was 1st diagnosed with obstructive, then severe obstructive, then central & severe obstructive apnea. Have used CPAPs & later (now) BiPAP machines. PTSD nightmares are not really controlled with Rx meds, but a little better. Classical musician, so get out of rehearsals/concerts 10:00 pm, then drive home, then brain is still going 1,000 mph until about 1:00 am, is easily 2:00–2:30 before I can force myself to lie down. Never wake up for appts, etc without at least 2 alarms. When I do have the luxury of sleeping in, I wake up around 9:30-10:30 am. Add the diagnosis of narcolepsy, and Armodafinil. My sleep doc has prescribed 1.5 hour naps with BiPAP every afternoon to be done by 3:00, not to be skipped any more than I would skip a medication. They help so much! Still, I can’t force myself to go to bed before 1:30–2:30 even when I’ve been home all evening doing quiet things.
My PCP has just started me on 6 mg/night of melatonin after 2 years of me begging him for something less toxic. Too early to tell, but it seems to be making me feel a little thickheaded around 12:00, then groggy by 12:30, so I have been able to get to bed about an hour earlier.
I use the SleepCycle app to track my sleep stats, and there is a slight improvement in the regular sleep part of the graphs, but no increase in REM. Yet. 🙂
I took melatonin 30 mg with my other meds 2 nights in a row. I had tremors and jitters all night and felt horrible. I thought something was wrong with me. But later that day I remembered I took melatonin and I thought maybe I had a reaction. I won’t take it again bc of how bad I felt. I really felt so terrible. Has this happened to anyone? I can’t find any info on what happened to me. I also had joint pain. Thank you
I've had insomnia ever since I can remember, there are other people in my family who also suffer from it, it's only an issue when I'm driving long distances, and working on repetitive tasks, where I can feel incredibly sleepy, melatonin, zoplicone, alcohol, THC all help
Have CKD so waking up every 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Gard to get back to sleep. Melatonin helps.
Dr. Sullivan is beautiful
Maximum recommended dosage of melatonin is 40 Mg…. You could go to 1,000 without any toxic effect but there's no point in that sort of dosage
I had two bad things happen taking melatonin:
1. Felt like I was ‘awake’ sleeping if that makes sense
2. Slept so hard on my own arm it was numb and limp for several days
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, primarily responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycles. It helps control your circadian rhythms, promoting sleepiness in the evening and helping to coordinate the body's response to darkness and light. Melatonin supplements are often used to treat sleep disorders or to help adjust to time zone changes (jet lag).
I take a larger dose than most and it helps with quality of sleep vivid dreaming too
Like the video but too many ads.
I use Berkley Jensen Melatonin – it helps to alleviate the somatic pain and headache so I can sleep following TBI
Don't go gently into the night.
How do you feel about high-dose Melatonin? 250-1000mg per day
I am 45. 3 weeks in taking 40mg before sleep. I started to notice improvements in all areas of the body. Better sleep. Less pain. Better digestion. Better mood…
I had brain surgery 24 yrs ago….due to AVM BLEED IN CEREBELLUM……I haven't slept in years…no more than 4 hrs a night..😮……I'm 73 very tired, will melatonin help me?
Hi Doc, great vid, can supplementing with melatonin long term impact the brain's ability to produce melatonin naturally?
mmh
Any thoughts on Valerian root extract for sleep?
I didn't hear you mention how the mitochondria make its own melatonin. The mitochondria make 95% of the melatonin it uses from exposure to near infrared light from the sun. You don't even need direct exposure, just being outside, you can get the infrared reflection off of green surfaces like the grass and trees. Try checking out MedCram on YouTube. They explain it there.
Yes, i am surprised. My husband takes Trazadone a couple hours before bedtime, then 2 melatonin right at bedtime and sleeps very well throughout the time. No nightmare, no restlessness. Sleeps very well and wakesup up refreshed. He is 79 years old with cognitive decline and melatonin keeps his brain calm throughout the night.
Doses?
Sleep = Brain health. what definitely shocked me was all the things that go on in the brain while we sleep. I am going to start implementing the three of the sleep hygiene you talked about.
1. Having a particular time I go to bed and get up
2. Having a ritual. #Before I sleep I will read 5 or a few pages of a book (a physical book)
3. Reducing the brightness of my device once it is an hour to the time I go to bed.
Amazing video. Thank you. Excited to watch future videos.
Ugh….I'm 56 and I'm experiencing this big time. I need to wean myself off Zolpidem (Ambien) for good and try to get some natural sleep. I am going to try the .5 mg Melatonin.
I am one that likes to stay up until 2 a.m.-3a and the sleep until 11 or later even.😂
– Melatonin, known as the "hormone of darkness," is synthesized and secreted in darkness, being suppressed by light. Babies produce little to no melatonin in the first three months of life, gradually increasing production until around three or four years old.
– As people age, melatonin production decreases progressively, particularly between ages 55 and 70, reaching levels well below what is produced in adulthood. This decline is associated with various age-related conditions, including dementia, memory changes, posture, and balance issues.
– Exogenous melatonin supplements have been shown to positively impact both sleep quantity and quality. While research suggests it may work more effectively in younger individuals, it can still be beneficial for those with delayed sleep wake phase disorder, helping them fall asleep more easily at regular times and improving daytime functioning.
– Melatonin significantly increases REM sleep, which is crucial for brain health and neuroplasticity. Disruption in the sleep-wake cycle is common in brain health challenges like traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression, and PTSD.
– Adequate sleep, particularly high-quality sleep, is essential for brain health and function. Melatonin's properties extend beyond regulating the sleep-wake cycle; it also acts as an antioxidant, aids in neuroprotection, lowers blood pressure, and potentially has therapeutic effects on age-related brain issues. However, over-the-counter sleeping pills are discouraged due to their negative impact on cognition and memory.
Mel goes way beyond sleep. Starts as tryptophan via the amino acids consumed. Other Amino Acids supporting sleep in glycine… Likely for brain detox timing via the glymphatic system. But, the amino acid couples and shifts for more functions than sleep. Light only shuts down the pinear requirement. Mel formation is also used during daylight hours in the gut and cellular function. Vagus verve connection via gut brain. It's not a strictly sleep hormone
Love that home
BS. REM sleep is not deep sleep 🙄
Is low dose melatonin safe for nightly use long term in over 60 adult, or is it to be used only for periodic short term use?
Melatonin difficult to get here in the UK, other than online from abroad. It has definitely helped me (63) sleep better.
Is there any evidence that melatonin can help with RLS? I know there's not a lot of research on RLS (from the papers, I've read but maybe I missed something). I feel there's a strong correlation with low dopamine levels, at least in my case anyways. At this point I'm willing to try anything if there's any chance it could help. Great info thanks!
I have been taking melatonin 10mills at night and it works awesome. I've noticed if I have a headache and take melatonin my whole brain feels better and I also have noticed that melatonin gives me wild dreams.
but how does it effect CNS Vasculitis?
There are articles that say melatonin may be pro-inflammatory like this one: Does melatonin play a disease-promoting role in rheumatoid arthritis? Your thouights?
Waste of time listening to this. If you want to know about melatonin listen to Dr John Lieurance. Or Dr Russell Rieter
One thing I feel is missed in these discussions is the cycle. During the day, melatonin should be suppressed, and nighttime released. So it is not a case of more is better. Also it is worth noting that the light intensity outside is 100-1000x brighter outside (~20,000lux) than even a brightly lit office (~100Lux). So I suspect more needs to be explored about daytime suppression of melatonin to allow night time release.
new info on memory issues
I have ADHD and my sleep pattern is, well, not a pattern.
A week ago i watched another video on melatonin and decided it would be nice to give low dose a try in other to regulate my circadian rhythm.
Now, as I live in the UK that would involve importing 10mg melatonin tablets from USA in contravention of the ridiculous psychoactive substances act 2016 and calculating the weight required for 0.2mg and weighing this amount out using highly sensitive scales.
Of course, as a law abiding citizen I wouldn't dream of doing this, well, not unless I'm getting REALLY REALLY good sleep. 😉
Can you make a video or series on anticholinergics? I feel like it's a scary word, but a lot of drugs have anticholinergic effects. I thought that the relationship between dementia and anticholinergics was not firmly established, and particularly in young and middle aged adults there's no evidence anticholinergics will cause dementia in the future. Thoughts?
People who go to sleep before 2am and wake up before 10am should be prescribed energy drinks to adjust their sleep cycle.
Take care folks, abusing melatonin can increase prolactin, which men don't want. Really bad.
Does THC edibles 3mgs help produce melatonin?
Excellant presentation on melatonin and brain health.
5 years ago, I stopped taking melatonin after some captious guys in youtube opined that melatonin causes brain fog after waking up. Recent medical experts have determined that melatonin is good for the mitochondria and energy and other health benefits. So, for a few months now I have been taking 90 milligrams every night – no issues. I sleep 7 hours per night (sometimes 8) and I feel great upon waking. I am 69 yo male. Recent research has shown that taking lower dose melatonin results in fat loss and some muscular development.
20 years ago when I started perimenopause my sleep got really bad. So my doctor gave me Ambien and I was on Ambien for 10 years maybe 12 and when I found out that eventually that Ambien is going to cause me even more memory loss and possibly worse, I weaned off of it slowly by using melatonin. I started at only 1 mg melatonin because I soon found out taking even 5 mg right off. The bat was too much for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m 677 MT HFR, or because I have other issues but 1 mg was fine if I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t go back to sleep I would take another milligram. And this went on for a couple months and then I slowly increased it to 2 mg and etc. etc. now 10 years later I am on 5 mg hour before I go to bed, and when my head hits the pillow, I take another 5 mg. And if I wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning and I can’t go back to sleep, I will take another 5 mg and this has worked for me but mind you it has taken me years to get to be able to take that much melatonin without causing any grogginess or forgetfulness or whatever could happen.
While ago I was reading about melatonin for cats because one was having some FHS issues so I was just trying to be proactive. Thankfully they calm down by taking some rescue remedy. But some recommendations say 1 to 20 mg, I was freaking out I couldn’t believe it because 20 mg at one time would kicked me in the butt and down the street to downtown 😂
took 5mg of Mel. last night and was literally awake until 4am – it had the opposite affect to what I wanted!