The number of Americans who take melatonin to help with their sleep issues has increased by five-fold in the last 20 years, according to researchers from Mayo Clinic and two medical institutions in China.
In a study published in the JAMA journal, the experts said that adults in the U.S. are also taking melatonin for twice the amount than the usual 5mg dosage a decade earlier.
The study covered melatonin use from 1999 to 2018 using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The researchers wanted to determine the safety risks of ingesting the sleeping pills in a span of a 20-year-split time period. They excluded data from those below 20 years old due to a lack of dietary supplement data.
Over 55,000 adults were part of the NHANES survey with a median age of 47.5 years old. Over 50 percent of the participants were women.
Risks of Increased Melatonin Use
Rebecca Robbins, who specializes in sleep medicine at Harvard Medical school, said that the study's findings show that overall melatonin use in American adults was still "relatively low." However, the documented five-fold increase should be a cause for concern for doctors, especially with the pandemic.
Robbins believes that people have had more reliance on sleeping pills during the current COVID health crisis. She warned that sleeping aids have been tied to other serious conditions like dementia or even mortality at an early age.
For some people, melatonin is known to cause headaches, drowsiness, dizziness, disorientation and confusion, nausea, stomach cramps, anxiety, depression, irritability and tremors. The sleeping pills could also interact with other medications or may trigger allergies or cause low blood pressure in other users.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate melatonin pills thus some could contain higher amounts of melatonin than what was indicated on the label. The experts warned that there are sleep aids that have 478 percent higher melatonin content. They also learned that a dosage of 5mg is now typical of short-term treatment for sleep issues.
Robbins said that the purity of over-the-counter melatonin pills cannot be ensured. Some may be called "herb treatments," deemed safer than pharmaceutical drugs, but it's misleading. Sleeping pills cannot be plant-based or herbs since melatonin is produced by the pineal gland, a hormone found deep in the brain and released through the bloodstream during a sleep cycle.
Alternatives to Melatonin Pills
Dr. Michael Daignault, who works in an emergency room, said that spending on melatonin supplements rose to $826 million for 2020 alone. This was a 43 percent increase from the previous year.
He recommended that instead of taking melatonin pills, it's better to establish a consistent and regular sleep schedule to train the brain. The bedroom should also be conducive for sleeping, meaning it should be quiet, dark, cool and comfortable.
It might also help to stop drinking caffeinated drinks or eating a heavy meal two hours before bedtime. Regular exercises of 20 to 40 minutes a day may improve the body's sleep cycle as well.
