This seems an easy thing to safely try.
I’m just not sure scientist’s understand hormones enough yet.
“This suggests that melatonin might be responsible for the reduced self-harm rates, but we cannot rule out that the use of other psychiatric medications or psychotherapy may have influenced the findings,”
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But the HEADLINE says melatonin.
I also learned there is a crises from the article.
I really appreciate the daily articles you post. I have shared them with many people, including Dr’s.
I had bad depression for a long time. I had an EEG with a doctor who had read THOUSANDS of EEGs. (He told me that I was a musician, and an engineer without knowing my background, just by looking at my waves). Anyway, he also told me that for a lot of people bad sleep is the root cause of their depression. He recommended getting lots of early morning sunlight (when there’s an overabundance of a particular hue of blue light). He said there are receptors in the eyes specifically to receive this light, and one received, it starts a countdown timer to sleep. If you do this, and listen to your body and sleep, your mood will improve. I did, it did, I stopped taking the SNRIs I was taking.
All that to say that the notion of better sleep to improve mood isn’t a crackpot theory. It really works. The use of melatonin over natural blue light is probably a “I can’t tell them to go outside, so this will have to work” reaction.
Put it in the water instead of flouride!
Melatonin is generally safe for short-term use. Unlike with many sleep medications, with melatonin you are unlikely to become dependent on it, have less response to it after repeated use or experience a hangover effect.
The most common melatonin side effects include:
Headache
Dizziness
Nausea
Daytime drowsiness
Other, less common melatonin side effects might include:
Vivid dreams or nightmares
Short-term feelings of depression
Irritability
Stomach cramps
Diarrhea
Constipation
Decreased appetite
Urinary incontinence at night
Increased risk of falls
Increased risk of seizures
Confusion or disorientation
Mood swings
Reduced alertness
An oddity of melatonin is that more is *not* better. In fact, it is worse. A small dose of it is generally effective, but taking more than that may have the opposite effect. Yet this simple idea just does not register with a lot of people, who cannot resist taking more and more.
What about more physical activity and no social media? I’ll wager that helps too.
Long term inadequate sleep will cause psychosis. Melatonin helps you sleep. Melatonin is not a magical drug. It just helps you sleep.