I’ve heard so many people say, “I’ve tried melatonin and it did nothing for me”. The problem is people are taking melatonin the wrong way and incorrectly think that it’s a sleeping pill.

Melatonin is not a sleeping pill.

We need to get that straight.

The other issue with melatonin is people get frustrated when they hear that melatonin works for other people but not them.

I get that.

It would be a good idea to know what melatonin is before we can say if it “worked”. When people say melatonin didn’t work for me, they’re implying it didn’t make them sleep.

Melatonin did work for them it just didn’t make them sleep.

Imagine you’re the manager of a construction site and you hire a guy to build a fence around the property. You come back at the end of the day only to find out he installed the drywall inside the house and did all the framing.

Would you say that he didn’t work that day?

No, he did work, just not the kind of work you thought he was going to do.

Melatonin is the same way. It’s not a sleeping pill.

We need to get that straight.

For me, I’ve done all the things necessary to allow melatonin to work beautifully for me. I take 15 to 20 mg at different stages of the night. Article update….I’m now up to 50mg per night!

What is Melatonin?

How Your Body Makes Melatonin

For reference melatonin is the #1 anticancer antioxidant hormone that your body makes endogenously. Primarily it’s made in your pineal gland through light exposure through the central retinal pathway. Then it hits the pineal gland and supra chiasmatic nucleus. The SCN is the “master circadian clock” that runs all the other clocks in your body.

The pathways are as follows:

• Tryptophan is converted to serotonin.
• Serotonin is converted to N-acetylserotonin.
• N-acetylserotonin is converted to melatonin.
• Light exposure inhibits, and darkness promotes melatonin production.

This is all done via light exposure. Melatonin is generally thought to be made in the pineal gland but more recent research shows that it’s created in all the mitochondria in every cell in our body.

UVB light, with wavelengths between 280-320 nm, is responsible for triggering the production of vitamin D3 in the skin. This process sets off a chain reaction that ultimately impacts your circadian rhythm and melatonin production.

UVB exposure leads to an increase in serotonin during the day. As night falls and it gets dark, serotonin gets converted (if it was made during the day) to melatonin.

The big takeaway is that we are light beings. We have photorecptors on our skin (melanopsin) and in our eyes and even in our gut. The shape of our red blood cells are designed in a concave way in order to trap photons of light. Light in the number one influence on our mitochondria.

The sun has the perfect ratio of color temperature, wavelengths and frequencies of blue, green, yellow, orange and red colors. On a side note, there have been studies showing that exposures to red light (aka low level laser therapy LLLT, or photobiomodulation) helped to improve sleep.

The point is exposure to the right kind of light at the right time of day is absolutely foundational for long term health and deep sleep. Say goodbye to insomnia my friends.

Did you know that each cell and each organ run off timing systems? Did you know that each cell talks directly to the SCN every nano second to get updates on circadian timing?

Did you know that your eye is more of a clock than it is a camera?

What happens when we put sunglasses on? We alter the frequency of light hitting the pineal gland and SCN, which communicates darkness and evening. The problem is that the light hitting our skin (which has photoreceptors and melatonin in it) says it’s daytime.

Now we have one system (The SCN) being told it’s evening and the other system being told its daylight.

This is what’s called circadian mismatch.

Not good.

The wrong signals are being sent and as a result specific hormones do not get created (like melatonin).

So exposure to fluorescent or LED lighting is extremely dangerous on many levels.

How To Take Melatonin

Before you even consider taking exogenous melatonin supplements I would ask if you’re doing the things that are necessary to create it endogenously? If you are, then by all means I’d consider taking a supplement.

A supplement is just that, it supplements what you’re already doing.

Here’s a brief outline of how I create melatonin endogenously and hold onto it so that when I take it as an extra supplement to support my circadian rhythm, it actually works.

• First light of the day is sunlight in the eyes without contacts or glasses while barefoot. At least 5 minutes with no upper limit.
• I get small bursts of sun (without sunglasses on for 1 minute multiple times per day after sunset). Contrary to public opinion sunbathers live longer.
• I use orange or red lights only indoors
• I wear blue blocking glasses (yellow during the day, orange after sunset and red two hours before bed) – Study
• I cover my skin as much as possible when indoors
• I use Iris Tech to protect my eyes and skin on all my devices

If I haven’t done any of the above, taking melatonin is not effective because nothing was done to support that days’ circadian rhythm.

Remember melatonin supports circadian rhythms, it’s not a sleeping pill.

Now that I’ve done all the above that day, here’s…

How I Take Melatonin Supplements

I personally take 50mg an hour or two before bed but if i were starting out, I’d recommend taking a divided dose of melatonin starting roughly 30 minutes after sunset. If you are starting out and you want to start with a total of 5mg of melatonin each night. I might break a 5mg tablet up into 2 or 3 pieces and take one piece roughly 30 minutes after sunset (after it’s dark).

Usually that’s when it gets fully dark after the sun goes down.

Let’s say the sun sets in your area at 6pm.

I personally take my first dose at around 6:30.

I would take another dose at about 8:30.

Then I would take the final dose at 10:30 just before bed.

Why Melatonin Doesn’t Work For You

If it’s not working, it’s probably because you did nothing of what I mentioned in my bullet list above. You have to support your biology which means supporting your natural day and night cycles.

Here are some reasons why melatonin may not have “worked” for you.

1. You didn’t take enough – I am now taking upwards of 50mg per night.
2. You’re taking it with other medications
3. You looked at a blue lit screen after you took it
4. You exposed your skin to blue light after you took it
5. You have excess deuterium in your body (another article entirely)
6. You ate after sunset
7. You exercised after sunset
8. You exposed yourself to hot or cold after sunset

All of the above will alter circadian rhythms hormone secretion and thereby impact the amount of melatonin you secrete.

Melatonin More Than A Sleep Aid

As I mentioned melatonin is thought of as a sleep aid but man it’s much much more powerful than helping to sleep. Here are some health conditions that melatonin “may” help with.

• Cancers
• Heart disease
• Carcinomas
• Migraine Headaches
• Sleep disorders
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Alzheimer’s Disease

This is a small list. I have a list of over 398 specific diseases that melatonin can be helpful with.

It’s an antioxidant and circadian rhythm supporter, it’s not a sleeping pill.

How Much Melatonin Can You Take?

There appears to be no upper limit, which is extremely fascinating to me. I’ll have to update this post if there is new research showing that there is. I’ve heard people taking upwards of thousands of milligrams per night with no known toxicity. I’ve also read about people taking melatonin during the day if they’re dealing with cancer or other chronic degenerative diseases.

We know that your body makes the most amount of melatonin in your life around puberty and continues to decline as you age. It seems to drop off quite remarkably after the age of 50, although it has already been declining for decades.

You will have to do your research and learn as much as you can about how melatonin works and why or if you should take it.

I personally don’t take it as a method to sleep but I take it because it’s hands down the most powerful antioxidant there is. Many folks in my world think that glutathione is the #1 antixidant while others say it’s ceruloplasmin.

They are both stronger than melatonin but what people don’t realize is that one melatonin molecule has the ability to donate up to 7 electrons per molecule, where as things like glutathione, ceruloplasmin or foods like dragon’s blood or C-60 donate one electron per molecule.

I take it for longevity, disease prevention, cancer prevention, heart health and sleeping well is a good byproduct.

Questions For You

Have you tried melatonin? What was its impact on your sleep or health? Did you make any of the mistakes above? Are you serious about regulating your light exposure?

Comment below!