Case study: Melatonin

gwern

I discuss melatonin's effects on sleep & its safety; I segue into the general benefits of sleep and the severely disrupted sleep of the modern Western world, the cost of melatonin use and the benefit (eg. enforcing regular bedtimes), followed by a basic cost-benefit analysis of melatonin concluding that the net profit is large enough to be worth giving it a try barring unusual conditions or very pessimistic safety estimates.

Full essay: http://www.gwern.net/Melatonin

I discuss melatonin's effects on sleep & its safety; I segue into the general benefits of sleep and the severely disrupted sleep of the modern Western world, the cost of melatonin use and the benefit (eg. enforcing regular bedtimes), followed by a basic cost-benefit analysis of melatonin concluding that the net profit is large enough to be worth giving it a try barring unusual conditions or very pessimistic safety estimates.

Full essay: http://www.gwern.net/Melatonin

For me, the ability to force myself to go to bed is by far the most important claim made in this post.

I've long had trouble going to sleep, and it's not an issue of refusing to go to bed, but rather, that I can't seem to just fall asleep like everyone else. My mind just won't shut down. OTC sleeping pills don't work on me: all they do is make me really drowsy but just as unable to fall asleep, which is a sucky feeling.

Recently, I started going on a prescription medication that works like a charm, in that predictably makes me sleepy, and actually fall asleep, and, on occasion, lets me wake up refreshed in the morning. However, it's relatively expensive, ... (read more)

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Case study: Melatonin

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Case study: Melatonin

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