Melatonin Is a Stage Manager, Not the Star of Sleep

Let’s talk melatonin. Or, as I like to call it (to the confusion of my friends and loved ones): negative light.

What I mean is this:

• Your body wants to make melatonin once a day.
• If you’re exposed to light at that time, it won’t.
• So: light = suppressed (or cancelled out) melatonin. 

This doesn’t mean darkness = melatonin. You need darkness at the time your body wants to make melatonin. For most of us, this happens at night. You can expect to have your melatonin levels start to rise in the hours before your normal bedtime as long as you’re in a dim enough environment to avoid this cancellation effect of light. 

Why does light suppress melatonin so much? Well, melatonin’s job is to tell your body that it’s nighttime, and light sends the message that it’s still day out. It’s a nighttime hormone, and it works to set the stage for you to fall asleep (fluffing the pillows, patting the comforter) at the time it expects you’ll want to sleep (night). 

You can stay awake all night, even if your melatonin levels are surging, and you can fall asleep during the day, when melatonin is barely there, if you’re tired enough. It’s not a knock-you-out-instantly kind of sleeping pill. It’s an indicator of when your body thinks light is not going to be around. It’s negative light.

What melatonin actually does

Melatonin can shift your internal clock, especially if you take it at the right time (Burgess et al., 2010). That makes it helpful for jet lag, night owls, or anyone trying to reset their rhythm.

But it’s not a universal “sleepiness” hormone. In fact, in nocturnal animals, melatonin rises when they’re gearing up for their active time (at night) (Pévet, 2003). 

And how does it do for us diurnal humans in terms of improving sleep? People taking melatonin…

• …fall asleep about 7 minutes faster, and
  
• …sleep about 8 minutes longer (Ferracioli-Oda et al., 2013)
  

So not nothing! But kind of eh. 

So should you take it?

Maybe. It’s probably not a miracle cure, but it’s relatively safe (especially compared to other sleep meds!), and it might give your body a helpful nudge toward bedtime.

Just remember: melatonin doesn’t override bad light habits. If you’re keeping the lights on overhead all night, no supplement’s going to save you.

Melatonin is popular—billion-dollar-market popular. But at the end of the day, it’s not the star of the sleep show; it’s the stage manager. Let it hang out in the dark like it wants to. 

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