The melatonin section is the one most people need. Taking 10mg when your body produces the equivalent of 0.1 to 0.3mg is not supplementing, it is flooding a system designed for a whisper. Enjoyed the honest framing here.
The organizing principle here — support the architecture rather than sedate over it — is a distinction I spend my working life on from the other direction. Anesthesia is not sleep, and the EEG makes that plain: a patient under general anesthesia does not cycle, does not reach REM, and wakes up having been unconscious rather than rested, which is why people can feel wrung out after a long case even though they were out cold. Which is also why what someone takes at night is my problem too. Almost nobody lists supplements when we ask about medications on the morning of surgery, and I have learned to ask twice — once for medications, then once for anything else you take, including anything from a health food store — before the ashwagandha or the 10 mg melatonin ever comes up.
As a chronic insomniac, this is super helpful! I am curious if there is any data on long-term side effects of taking melatonin for adults. It seems like where I've seen the big shift is amongst people giving it to their little kids, but I'm curious for your average person if there are any harms of taking a 1 mg or 3 mg dose on a regular basis.
The melatonin section is the one most people need. Taking 10mg when your body produces the equivalent of 0.1 to 0.3mg is not supplementing, it is flooding a system designed for a whisper. Enjoyed the honest framing here.
Completely - too many people rely on it, unnecessarily. It’s not physiologic.
This framing extends beyond melatonin. It's the belief that if a little is good, a lot is much much better! Keep the good essays coming.
The organizing principle here — support the architecture rather than sedate over it — is a distinction I spend my working life on from the other direction. Anesthesia is not sleep, and the EEG makes that plain: a patient under general anesthesia does not cycle, does not reach REM, and wakes up having been unconscious rather than rested, which is why people can feel wrung out after a long case even though they were out cold. Which is also why what someone takes at night is my problem too. Almost nobody lists supplements when we ask about medications on the morning of surgery, and I have learned to ask twice — once for medications, then once for anything else you take, including anything from a health food store — before the ashwagandha or the 10 mg melatonin ever comes up.
As a chronic insomniac, this is super helpful! I am curious if there is any data on long-term side effects of taking melatonin for adults. It seems like where I've seen the big shift is amongst people giving it to their little kids, but I'm curious for your average person if there are any harms of taking a 1 mg or 3 mg dose on a regular basis.