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
Here's a thought: use the melatonin and wrap a scarf around your head before going to bed, but leave the shade up or loose. The melatonin & scarf will put you to sleep, and sunrise around 6 or 7 will slowly wake you up, since by then the melatonin will have run out and your scarf will have come off.
Thanks for the suggestion. Actually, for the last couple of days, I've been taking about half the dose I tried last year, and I've had the shade open a bit -- the little bit of light it lets in at night doesn't seem to bug me as much as it used to. It seems to be working in terms of moving the time I wake up a bit each day, and not so much grogginess. I know Less Wrong isn't Erowid, but I think my experience trying melatonin sublingually, which is something that was suggested in one of the other comments, might be interesting -- IT BURNS! And now the under... (read more)