[bluedolphin92]

Hello all,

A few months ago while I was still in school, I found that there were many nights where it took me awhile to fall asleep (Not so long that I was seriously worried, but enough to be annoying, like around 45 minutes to an hour, which was much longer than usual.) I was in a dorm room, but the sounds of my roommate and the people in adjacent rooms never seemed to bother me too much for the first few months of school, so I'm not sure how much of a factor that was in my issues.

I started taking a 5 mg melatonin supplement about an hour before going to bed every night. For awhile, it worked like a charm. Then, I suddenly found that it didn't seem to help at all. I was still taking it at the same time, and I took a week off from taking it after I had taken it every day for two weeks, as per the instructions on the back of the bottle. It just didn't work.

It's not as big of an issue now that I'm on summer break and can stay up until I'm about to pass out and sleep until I feel fully rested, but I'm kind of worried I'll run into the same issues when I start back school in a couple months. Is it normal to have an issue with melatonin like I did? What are some other things I can try to help me fall asleep if I run into these issues again?

[medkev13]

With most meds the body builds a tolerance against them over time. With melatonin there is a similar, though not entirely the same, effect that happens. If you use it regularly there is a risk that your body will either reduce the amount of melatonin it naturally creates, or it will increase the amount of seratonin it creates (which does the exact opposite of what melatonin does) in order to counter the steady spike in levels. I recommend you stop taking it for somewhere around a month - being on summer break should make that easy - and increasing the amount of physical activity you do dueing the day. When you go back on it, don't take it every night. Instead take it every few nights, and stagger it around from week to week. This will keep your body from getting into a rhythm and will delay the coping against the rise in melatonin. Keeping active will increase the amount of melatonin your body naturally creates (as well as increase the amount of feel-good chemicals which ill keep things like depression at bay). If it is noise that keeps you up, try earplugs, or having a radio on to drown out background noise from down the hall. I had to do this when I was in college, because one of my four rooommates sounded like a bear when he snored.

Hope that helps!

[bluedolphin92]

It certainly did help! Thanks Roommate noise shouldn't be as huge of an issue next year as it was this past year because the dorm I'll be staying in has separate bedrooms. I'll keep all that in mind though ^_^

[ickle.Arnav]

Nothing helps me sleep. Not trazadone, not ambien, not melatonin, not heavy psych meds.
What used to help me sleep was putting ear plugs in...those little soft ones. And I would do something every night to calm yourself down. Do NOT take a warm shower or sit at the computer or watch tv or listen to music. Do not drink alcohol or caffeine if you can manage it. If not, don't drink caffeine past noon.
maybe drink some hot tea? not caffeinated of course.
try not to eat dairy late. try not to eat 3 hours before you sleep.
if you take melatonin, take it on an empty stomach or with some crackers/bread.
try not to take it every night.
Hope this helps.

[medkev13]

The eating and drinking of milk (or anythign heavy) is because the stomach requires at least an hour and a half to digest, and when it does it will force your body to stay awake. The alcohol and caffein are (obviously) stimulants that will keep you awake (unless you have ADD, then you might try a little caffein before bed, as it will make you sleepy). Similarly, watching/listening to stuff will stimulate the brain and inhibit sleep as well.