Melatonin

[All Mountain Coaching]

Anyone use it or tried it?

 

[Dirtnvert]

I use it if I need to go to sleep early to get up early. Railway guys use it for their shift work

 

[tretopflir]

Air crews use it a lot. Good for time zones.

 

[bikerider007]

Where is it available?

 

[tretopflir]

Everywhere. CVS. Costco, in vitamin supplements section

 

[Krisj]

What’s your reason for wanting to use it ?

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

My sleep is shit at the minute, well has been for months. After a few particularly bad nights I thought I'd try anything. So bought some online from USA.

 

[Dirtnvert]

Surprised you have to order online. It’s on the shelf with vitamins at the grocery store here.
I’ll take one or two before right before bed. They won’t work if you’ve had sugar/sweets in the evening/after supper

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

Surprised you have to order online. It’s on the shelf with vitamins at the grocery store here.
I’ll take one or two before right before bed. They won’t work if you’ve had sugar/sweets in the evening/after supper

They used to be available apparently in the UK but no more. What's the deal with the sugar? I had Coco pops an hour ago lol.

 

[Dirtnvert]

They used to be available apparently in the UK but no more. What's the deal with the sugar? I had Coco pops an hour ago lol.

Not exactly sure but it does cancel any effect. They usually work pretty quick otherwise. Slower acting if you’re still full from supper but I guess we shouldn’t be having sugar or food before a sleep. I gap and screw it up occasionally with sweets. Aside from that I sleep a bit deeper, get to sleep quicker and not drowsy when I wake up. It works for 4 hrs so gets you to a good sleep start. Sometimes I have one and have another later if I wake to go to the washroom. Ski touring tomorrow with an early start so planning my mealtime and then take 2 later

 

[Krisj]

@All Mountain Coaching I’ve struggled with sleep for years dude , one of the main things I’ve found is no stimulants ie sugar that converts to energy, caffeine never any after 4pm. If you train at the gym ZMA is a good supplement that promotes a good nights sleep. Horlicks yes horlicks just before bed is a good one , my mrs laughs at me on this one and calls it my nan night drink.
My personal preference is the natural green herb ?which always works.
One of the worst things is worry your not going to get to sleep try and relax before bed. Good luck dude

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

Yeah I get to sleep pretty easily actually, but wake every single night after 2.5-3.5hrs. then I can be awake for 30m up to 4 hours and then a final sleep. If I get back to sleep quick, it can happen again. This has been going on ages. I have to go for a nanny nap in the day to survive.

Maybe when I've nothing on, I might try one before bed, then one when I wake again.

I don't do coffee or tea, but I'm partial to a red bull vodka. Even without them it still happens. I eat my main meal at lunch time, so I'm not eating late etc. I know I'm in trouble if I have a red bull after 9pm, or spicy takeaway for instance later on. Even when I'm being good it's not better, hence trying these tabs.

I bought 600 of them. Lol, so I'll give them a fair shot.

If I have to have a nanny drink and nanny nap in in for serious stick.

 

[Dax]

I would go easy on the redbull, I generally don't drink caffeine after 2pm now after getting a bit jittery back when I was consulting.

Melatonin works, but is more about resetting your body clock to where it should be, rather than fixing sleep issues.

If you just need something to knock you out for a few hours, sominax is very effective and available over the counter in the UK. If you're in the US, advil PM works well.

 

[galaga187]

The Sleep Coach book by Nick Littlehales has some great tips but a lot of hyperbole and self promotion too. The top tip in there for me is about sleep cycles being in 90 minute phases I try to stick to these so 4:30 or 6 hours or 7:30. I try to average 7:30 over the week so sometimes bolt in a 90 minute top up. Good luck and let us know how you get on @All Mountain Coaching please.

 

[njn]

I've used melatonin in the past when working nights, it helps.

I now religiously take ZMA before bed. No caffeine after 3pm.

 

[mark.ai]

Did you know it used to be normal for people to wake halfway through their sleep, do something for a bit and then go back to sleep for the rest of the night? Apparently, it's only in the last century that everyone thinks "normal" is to sleep for 8 hours straight.

Good article on the BBC website here: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

 

[Dirtnvert]

I've used melatonin in the past when working nights, it helps.

I now religiously take ZMA before bed. No caffeine after 3pm.

Do you have a link to this ZMA? I’m Not familiar with it. I’m starting back to shift work so I’d like to research some options

 

[njn]

ZMA® Capsules

Not really a sleep aid, more of a recovery aid. Heard about it on a Joe Rogan podcast with a sports nutritionist.

 

[Dirtnvert]

ZMA® Capsules

Not really a sleep aid, more of a recovery aid. Heard about it on a Joe Rogan podcast with a sports nutritionist.

Great. Thanks! I’ll look into it. Can probably find it on his yt channel. Maybe Joe and Elon share teh ZMA ?

 

[Indigo]

Yeah I get to sleep pretty easily actually, but wake every single night after 2.5-3.5hrs. then I can be awake for 30m up to 4 hours and then a final sleep. If I get back to sleep quick, it can happen again. This has been going on ages. I have to go for a nanny nap in the day to survive.

Melatonin helps with initiating sleep when body clock is out of sync with day night cycle. ie. Jet lagged; could also happen if consistently staying up too late working, studying, screen time, etc.

But you said "I get to sleep pretty easily", so Melatonin is not for you!

Warning: Using a sleep aid when it's not required can create a dependency. You don't want to add the problem of not being able to initiate sleep. I speak from experience. I used to be just like you are now. Could initiate sleep fine, but would wake up 4-5hrs later and not be able to get back to sleep. I tried various sleep aids on doctors advice and now I need 3 presciption meds to initiate sleep, and for 10+ years I've been trying to come off them. Wished I'd never gone down that road in life, which began with over the counter herbs like Valerium, Passiflower, etc.

The route cause of my original problem was not something a doctor could fix. It was a muscle problem, sloppy/loose hip joint caused by me over stretching leg muscles trying to relieve persistent muscle tension in legs and lower back (which needed specialist physio using ultrasound to properly diagnose). The hip joint is a ball and "shallow" socket; supported, protected and moved by 17 muscles, without which the joint would just fall apart. The sciatic nerve (that joins each leg with spinal column) passes within close proximity of the hip joint and can get pinched when the joint is not properly supported.

During sleep, your muscles relax and recover. Basically, during the night as you enter deeper sleep states, your muscles relax more to allow further repair and recovery to take place.

If any of the small muscles that hold the hip joint capsule together, become too long when fully relaxed, it can cause the sciatic nerve to get pinched resulting in sudden pain or sudden leg movement (a muscle reflex action). You instantly wake up and have no idea why. -- You might occasionally experience such sudden leg movement as you relax while drifting off to sleep. That would be a tell tail warning sign that you are susceptible to sciatic nerve pain (Sciatica) and/or restless legs.

You could google "Sciatica" for various exercises aimed at strengthening the core stability muscles of the hip joint, but I think it would be better to see a physio who will teach you to first engage the hip joint stabilizing muscles before the larger muscles that perform the major movement of the exercise. The learned new muscle recruitment pattern performed thousands of times eventually becomes automatic and you are then cured.

Important: you need to be calm and relaxed whilst performing the exercises because any stress encourages a fight/flight muscle recruitment pattern, which skips the core muscle activation step. Why? in life or death situation, reaction time is more important than protecting joints.

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

Did you know it used to be normal for people to wake halfway through their sleep, do something for a bit and then go back to sleep for the rest of the night? Apparently, it's only in the last century that everyone thinks "normal" is to sleep for 8 hours straight.

Good article on the BBC website here: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

I've also heard this recently. Maybe I'm just a good ol' caveman.

 

[mark.ai]

I've also heard this recently. Maybe I'm just a good ol' caveman.

5 hours after posting that, I woke up in the middle of the night

 

[EbikeTom]

I travel with work and have struggled with jet lag sleep issues for years. I tried Melatonin and CBD oil for the time on a recent Asia trip, 8hrs sleep every night, so I can definitely recommend. Just be careful if you travel with cbd oil, it’s banned in some countries.

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

Some interesting ideas and comments guys.

 

[J dog]

I may be wrong but I seem to remember reading an article on Melatonin that said Pistachio nuts are loaded with the stuff and you only need a small handful to get a good dose. Maybe better than tablets?

 

[Albez]

I tried some 10mg melatonin when I was going through codeine withdrawal, did nothing for me. I take zma every day and sometimes CBD oil which helps relax me and usually get a good nights sleep nowadays.

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

Hmm, second person to say the same combination.

My clock is all to shit at the minute, drinking, eating shit and late blah blah blah, you know, Xmas. So I can't comment on it yet really. I'll see what it does in the new year.

I'm still taking them. I do notice a kind of face and brain numbness after 15m ish. They do send you on your way. What I want though is to stay KO'd.

 

[Albez]

Take some valium before bed, that'll knock you out. That stuff is way addictive though and hard as hell to stop taking. I'm taking pregabalin now because of a trapped nerve in my neck which has killed all the pain down my arm with the added bonus of making me sleepy at night. Apparently it's a devil drug though so another withdrawal from hell to look forward to.

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

I saw a program on those, yeah they're bad. Think I'll do without those or valium, I could do without any other addictions.

 

[Dax]

Valium would do the trick even if you don't sleep, you wouldn't care!