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Comment by jimzvz | Hacker News Reader

I have terrible sleep habits and often find it difficult to fall asleep before 5am. I have been considering trying melatonin but my major concern is that I will become dependent on it. I don't want my body to stop producing whatever small amount it already does through its use as a supplement.

How dependent on it would you say you are? How well would you function if you were unable to get hold of it?

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It's not addictive. In fact I found myself not wanting to take it after a while because I had so much energy from getting good sleep, I wanted to stay up late doing stuff. (Even though I should, so I get to sleep at a decent hour.)

I recommended 1mg per 50lbs of body weight, and get the fast acting one, not the slow-dissolving one; those made me drowsy the next morning.

It is a little harder to snap to attention right after waking up, but I shake that off quickly; probably a sign I slept well.

It does affect everyone differently though. I haven't had any negative effects myself, other than with the slow-dissolving "long-lasting" pills (but some might need that to stay asleep).

Interesting. I'm not sure I've seen extended-release melatonin. IIRC melatonin does not help you stay asleep, so that would be fairly useless.

I recommend starting at the smallest dose you can find designed for sublingual (under-the-tongue dissolving) administration. 0.3mg to 1mg is a good range.

Hmm. The article specifically says that disappearance of melatonin enables waking.

This is the extended release one that made me sleepy the next day:

http://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/node/1418

This is the one I use that works great:

http://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/chocolate_mint_melatonin

Since you are here, I'm going to assume you are looking at a screen at least some of the time when you are awake that late.

You might consider installing blue-light reduction software like f.lux - it's drastically improved my ability to fall asleep late at night.

Thanks. I use f.lux already and it's great (it makes my eyes feel a lot better) but hasn't really helped me fall asleep. I think I am going to try a no back-lit screens after 23:00 rule.

I don't feel any physiological dependence, as I go on and off it with no consequences that I can detect (other than becoming more prone to slip off my sleep schedule). Generally I only take melatonin daily when I'm adjusting to a new timezone/schedule or have lapsed by purposely staying up. Otherwise I use it maybe twice a week, and have gone months without any.

When I don't take it my sleeping time seems to be a function of sleep hygiene.. Your melatonin production cycles are probably most strongly controlled by zeitgeber factors, like the mentioned blue light wavelengths. My insomnia used to be as bad as yours and now it's fairly normal for me to fall asleep at 1am, even using the computer. Once you get in a pattern, it has some persistence to it.

Use 500mcg pills. It only takes around 300mcg to get the full effects of melatonin. Once you reach around 1mg, your body will quickly adapt and it will lose effectiveness.

I used 300mcg for months and months, slept better, had vivid dreams, and the effect didn't change. I switched to 500mcg pills from Trader Joe's only because the 300mcg pills stopped being carried locally.

Source: an in-depth article I read years ago that I can never seem to find.

It's very unlikely that you will become dependent on Melatonin, it's simply not addictive. It isn't a sleeping pill either, it mainly supports an existing sleep disposition. If you don't want to sleep, you won't sleep.

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