What Is Melatonin and How Does It Work?

You’ve probably heard about melatonin and maybe taken it more than once to help you go to sleep. Along with CBD, melatonin is a key ingredient in the House of Wise Sleep Gummies and Sleep Drops. But do you actually know what melatonin is and how it interacts with your body? Keep reading to learn about how melatonin can give you a better night's sleep and beyond. Sweet dreams.

What is melatonin?

Melatonin is our body's sleep hormone, which your pineal gland produces naturally as a response to darkness. It also possesses antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

How does melatonin work?

Melatonin helps with the timing of your circadian rhythm (24-hour internal clock), which lets you know when it's time to sleep, wake up, and eat. Your melatonin levels start to rise when it's dark outside, signaling to your body that it's time for bed. They then decrease in the morning, when it's light outside, to let you know that it's time to wake up.

In addition, melatonin plays a role in regulating body temperature, blood pressure, blood glucose, and some hormone levels.

Why take melatonin?

Because melatonin helps your body prepare for sleep, people who don't make enough of it at night can have trouble falling asleep. For that reason, people often chose to ingest melatonin in the form of a pill or other supplement. Many factors can cause low melatonin levels, such as alcohol or caffeine consumption, smoking, aging, certain medications, and exposure to too much light at night (including blue light). Taking a melatonin supplement may help people who have trouble falling asleep, especially people who are experiencing jet lag or people who do shift work at night.

What are some benefits of melatonin?

Melatonin may help you sleep better.

Evidence suggests that taking a melatonin supplement right before bed decreases the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep and increases the chances of you staying asleep. Before trying melatonin, you should do your best to create healthy sleep habits for yourself such as having a sleep schedule, limiting alcohol and caffeine consumption, and reducing your exposure to electronic devices before bed.

Read more >> How Dr. Kristen Casey Fell in Love With Sleep

Melatonin may help alleviate anxiety.

If your body is not making enough melatonin, you might have trouble relaxing and experience anxiety in general. Taking melatonin can improve your sleep quality and ease negative feelings associated with anxiousness.

Melatonin may help treat acid and gastroesophageal reflux.

Melatonin may help relieve acid and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) by protecting the lining of your esophagus against irritants such as acid, alcohol, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Melatonin might reduce symptoms of tinnitus.

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) can be a cause for frustration when you're trying to fall asleep. Researchers suggest that taking melatonin may help reduce symptoms of significant tinnitus and improve sleep.

Melatonin could help with migraines.

A migraine is a recurring type of headache that causes severe, throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, often on the side of your head. Melatonin may help reduce migraine severity and frequency.

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