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Melatonin & Sleep Apnea

Jul 10, 2011 | By Ivy Morris
Melatonin & Sleep Apnea
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The repeated stops and starts in breathing that characterize sleep apnea can cause insomnia, nighttime awakenings and daytime sleepiness. A continuous positive airway pressure machine or surgery can keep your airway open at night, but you may still find yourself battling to sleep at night. The supplement melatonin may improve your sleep quality. Talk to your doctor before taking melatonin because it can interact with certain medications and cause side effects that outweigh its benefits.

About Melatonin

The natural hormone melatonin works primarily to regulate your circadian rhythms -- your body's natural clock. The pineal gland in the brain secretes more melatonin when it's dark so you can sleep at night. As the sun comes up, the pineal gland lessens melatonin release to help you awaken. Melatonin also helps regulate other hormones and its antioxidant effects may help the immune system. As a natural sleep aid, you can get melatonin in over-the-counter supplemental forms as tablets, capsules and a cream, and lozenges that dissolve underneath the tongue.

Melatonin Levels

Ideally, you want the highest level of melatonin secretion at the time you want to fall asleep at night. For most people this is the case; however, measurements of melatonin levels in sleep apnea patients indicate that this condition could be affecting the pineal gland's secretion of melatonin. For example, an August 1998 article published in the "Journal of Internal Medicine" compared 60 patients whose breathing was sleep disordered against 10 controls, healthy non-snoring participants, and found that the sleep-disordered breathing patients had significantly higher serum melatonin levels in the afternoon, leading to daytime sleepiness. Additionally, a 2001 article published in the Polish journal, "Pneumonologia Alergologia Polska," studied males with sleep apnea and found that, in general, the men had peak melatonin secretion in the early morning hours, with the average peak time of 2 A.M. The study adds that for 24 percent of patients, peak melatonin secretion was prolonged to the early morning hours, causing many of the men to feel tired in the morning and sleepy during the day.

Melatonin Treatment

Melatonin can help some people with sleep apnea fall asleep earlier at night and sleep longer during the night. An October 2008 study published in the "Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research" found significant improvements in time falling asleep and duration of sleep in 25 sleep apnea patients taking 3 mg of melatonin one hour before bedtime for 21 days. Melatonin did not improve the daytime sleepiness or lung function of the patients.

Only your doctor can prescribe the best melatonin treatment for you. In general, take 1 to 3 mg of melatonin one hour before bedtime. If you do not see an improvement in sleep, you can take 5 to 6 mg of melatonin an hour before bedtime.

Warnings

If you are considering taking melatonin, discuss your health history with your doctor. Melatonin has many side effects including headache, stomachache, dizziness, irritability, daytime drowsiness, vivid nightmares and decreased libido. In men, melatonin can cause decreased sperm count and breast enlargement.

Melatonin can negatively interact with some medications and supplements including interleukin-2, tamoxifen, steroid medications, sedatives, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, blood thinners, beta-blockers, blood pressure medications, birth controls, benzodiazepines, antipsychotics and antidepressants. Melatonin may not be suitable if you have certain conditions such as diabetes, seizures, depression and high blood pressure, or if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. Unless a doctor prescribes it, children should not take melatonin.

References

Article reviewed by Knuckles Last updated on: Jul 10, 2011

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