Melatonin is a chemical that helps you fall asleep. Melatonin supplements are sold over-the-counter at drug stores and some retail chains as well as online. The supplements are available in varying strengths. While your body produces melatonin, and it is considered to be a natural supplement because it naturally occurs in your body, taking it can have side effects and can affect your blood pressure. Do not take melatonin supplements without physician approval.
Melatonin
Your brain produces melatonin via the pineal gland from the amino acid tryptophan. Darkness or suppressed light help your body to produce melatonin, which helps you fall asleep. Since darkness helps your brain produce this chemical, melatonin levels are highest just before you fall asleep at night, according to MayoClinic.com. Melatonin supplements are formulated to help your body produce melatonin to make it easier to fall asleep.
Supplements
Melatonin supplements are available in a wide range of doses, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Your physician may recommend melatonin supplements if your body naturally has low levels of melatonin, which makes it harder for you to fall asleep, or if you have insomnia or other sleeping disorders that make it difficult to drift off to sleep. Certain medications decrease your body's ability to either produce or use melatonin effectively; this increases your need for melatonin before bed.
Blood Pressure
Taking melatonin supplements can affect your blood pressure. They can make blood pressure medications, such as methoxamine and clonidine, less effective. Melatonin supplements may also cause drops in your blood pressure, according to MayoClinic.com. If you take medication to lower your blood pressure, the Mayo Clinic urges that you use extreme caution when taking melatonin supplements. If your blood pressure becomes too low, your heart will have trouble circulating enough blood supply throughout your body to supply your organs with the oxygen they require; this could result in death.
Other Warnings
If you suffer from clotting disorders or blood thinning medications, MayoClinic.com advises that you do not take melatonin supplements. Patients who have atherosclerosis and high cholesterol levels or are at risk for cardiovascular disease should also not use melatonin supplements. Men may experience gynecomastia, or enlarged breasts, and decreased sperm count as well as decreased sperm motility. Women may experience increases or decreases in estradiol, progesterone, thyroid hormones, oxytocin and prolactin. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should not take melatonin without consulting a health-care provider.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Melatonin; Mayo Clinic Staff; July 2011
- MayoClinic.com: Melatonin: Safety; Mayo Clinic Staff; July 2011
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Melatonin; Steven D. Ehrlich, NMD; Dec. 2009
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Possible Interactions with Melatonin; Ernest B. Hawkins, MS, BSPharm, RPh, Health Education Resources and Steven D. Ehrlich, NMD; Nov. 2007
