Taking melatonin can help overcome a brief period of poor sleep or rest better when jet lag. But is it a problem if the supplement has become part of the nightly routine?
Melatonin is generally safe for short term usealthough for some people it can cause mild side effects. However, it is not recommended to control chronic or long-term insomnia. There is a lack of evidence on effectiveness and its safety, and it has shown mixed efficacy in trials.
Experts recommend taking melatonin for short periods when you have trouble sleeping. It appears to be safe to take melatonin for four to eight weeks. But long-term use hasn't been well studied, so it's hard to say for sure what might happen if you take it for months or years.
probable effects
Melatonin it is not an addictive substance, so we can't actually hook into it. But if we get into the habit of taking it every night, we may start to convince ourselves that we can't sleep without it. Any non-habit forming ritual that is used routinely to fall asleep may have a psychological basis, as we can feel dependence on its use.
Melatonin is meant to be a temporary solution for short-term sleep problems. So if it hasn't helped after several weeks, we may actually have a chronic sleep problem that isn't being addressed, such as Sleep apnea. Underlying sleep disorders, particularly when symptoms last more than three months or affect activities of daily living, should be evaluated by a physician.
Melatonin, although generally considered safe, can cause headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, anxiety, irritability, or depression. If we experience these side effects after taking the supplement once or twice, it is very likely that we experience them regularly when taking melatonin every night.
In addition, you can interact with various medications prescribed. For example, it can increase the risk of bleeding for people taking blood thinners or antiplatelet drugs, make anti-seizure drugs less effective, or alter blood sugar in people taking diabetes drugs. Over time, that could have a negative impact on health.