The Dark Side of Melatonin

If you’re having trouble sleeping, I don’t blame you for looking for solutions.

Sleep problems don’t JUST leave you feeling miserable. They also harm your health.

Two of the most common sleep solutions are sleeping pills and melatonin.

But buyer beware. Common is often mistaken for SAFE.

But NEITHER option fit in this category.

Sleeping pills often come with side effects. But even worse, they also never work in the long run because they don’t fix your body’s underlying problem

And melatonin isn’t the “safe” option it’s often pitched as. It isn’t your typical vitamin or mineral supplement. It’s a hormone that shouldn’t be messed with willy-nilly. Yet there’s even a market for giving it to children with trouble sleeping!

I’ve warned Natural Health Today readers about melatonin in the past. But today, I have another, even more URGENT, reason for you to steer clear of these supplements.

The fact of the matter is, taking too much melatonin—or for too long—can lead to many health problems.

If you think you’re taking a safe amount… think again.

Please do yourself, your kids, and your grandkids a favor and find another way to improve your sleep.

A recent study found that many melatonin supplements marketed for children contain more melatonin than what’s listed on the label.

After analyzing 25 supplements, the researchers found that the gummy form of melatonin contains unpredictable amounts of the hormone.

This wasn’t a small disparity, either. The REAL amount of melatonin was 74 to 347 percent higher than what was listed on the label!

Of the 25 products tested, 88 percent were mislabeled, and only 12 percent had even close to the amount listed on the label.

This is VERY ALARMING information. After all, melatonin is linked to headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, anxiety, and low blood pressure. It can interact with certain medications. And it raises your risk of retinal thinning.

So it’s no wonder that calls to U.S. Poison Control Centers for pediatric ingestion of melatonin increased 530 percent over the last decade.

This has led to more than 27,000 emergency department visits, more than 4,000 hospitalizations, and sadly, 2 deaths.

In some cases, melatonin may be safe if you take the proper amount and only for a short time.

But with the obvious lack of accountability for melatonin supplements—and risk of potential harm if you take too much, why risk it?

This is true no matter your age.

Instead of supplementing with melatonin directly, a better option is to take the back-door approach by taking melatonin precursors like 5-HTP or hydroxytryptophan.

Your body uses them to MAKE the perfect amount of melatonin. This means they can be safe and effective for helping with sleep while avoiding the potential problems of taking melatonin directly.

Even better, work on fixing your circadian rhythm and your light environment. Get plenty of sunlight directly in your eyes in the morning, reduce blue light exposure at night, and sleep in a completely dark room.

P.S. Still struggling with sleep? The fastest and easiest way to reset your circadian rhythm so you can sleep at NIGHT is to do THIS during the DAY. CLICK HERE to reveal the simple solution.

SOURCE:

Cassata, C. (2023, May 3.) “Study: Melatonin Gummies May Contain Higher Doses Than What’s on the Label.” Health. https://www.health.com/melatonin-gummies-label-7486570