Where your melatonin comes from
Start with what melatonin is, because his whole answer rests on it. Melatonin is a hormone, and your body makes it. It comes from the pineal gland, a pea-sized gland close to the centre of the brain that he calls the third eye.
He says it gets made two ways, and both run through your eyes. When the sun is out, light travels from your eyeball back to the pineal gland and you make melatonin. Then, when the room is pitch black, the same gland releases it. That is the hormone your body uses to put you into a deep, recuperative, repairing sleep.
So his view of the supplement starts from the fact that you already make it.
Dr. Martin on the supplement:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725I'm not against melatonin as a supplement. I'm not, okay? Some people find it effective. In my experience, it has a shelf life, meaning that it works and then it doesn't for a lot, a lot, a lot of people.
Is melatonin safe? The side effect he names
He asks the overdose question himself, and his answer is about side effects, not danger.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725Sometimes it can make you sleepy during the day. For some people, it's not well tolerated in a supplement. But most people do well with it.
So for most people, in his experience, it is fine. The thing to watch is how you feel the next day. If it leaves you drowsy into the day, that is the side effect he names, and some people simply do not tolerate it. He does not give a dose or a nightly limit on this episode, so this article does not either.
Why melatonin stops working
His real reservation is not safety. It is that the supplement tends to fade.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725But it has a shelf life. It doesn't continue to do its work because your body actually makes it and wants you to get it yourself, out of nature.
That is what he means by a shelf life. It works for a while, then for a lot of people it does not. His explanation is that your body is built to make melatonin itself, from daylight and darkness, and a capsule does not fix whatever stopped it making enough. His position is simple: if it works for you, go for it. He just would not stop there.
More than a sleep hormone
Most people only think of melatonin for sleep, and he says it does more than that. Sleep is its first job. After that, he calls it a very powerful anti-inflammatory and a very powerful antioxidant.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant. It really is. It rust-proofs your cells. That's what antioxidants do.
He ties that part to getting older. On the episode he jokes that he does not look the way he did when he graduated in the 1970s, and that Father Time eventually wears everyone out. Antioxidants help your cells not to rust out so quickly, he says, and he is trying to slow that process down. It is one more reason he wants your body making plenty of its own.
Why so many people run low
He puts about 70 per cent of the population low in melatonin, and close to the same share having trouble sleeping. His explanation is how much the world has changed.
We work indoors far more than we did 50 years ago. Plenty of people are afraid of the sun. And after dark, the house is lit by screens.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725And one of the biggest factors in melatonin and the production of it in the third eye at the pineal gland is these false lights indoors, indoor lighting, blue light, our computers, our smartphones, our televisions.
That artificial light, he says, holds your melatonin back. He links the two shortages directly. The sun has been made the villain, so people run low in vitamin D, and low in melatonin for the same reason. Then a sleeping pill industry worth billions of dollars a year grows up around them.
Melatonin is not a sleeping pill
He draws a hard line between the two. Melatonin is the hormone that puts you into recuperative sleep. A sleeping pill, in his view, does not give you sleep at all. You are put to sleep, but it is sedation, the same way you are put under for an operation.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725They're sedation pills. They're not sleeping pills. They're not. They've given them the wrong name.
He used to ask his patients not to get hooked on them. If you take a prescription sleep medication now, do not stop it on your own. Take that conversation to your doctor.
"Your body knows how to put you to sleep naturally."
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725His four things before a bottle of melatonin
His answer to low melatonin is to help your body make its own. He sums it up in four things.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725You need sunlight. You need darkness at night. You need to get your stress hormone down, cortisol and fourthly, magnesium. Those are the four things.
- Sunlight. About 20 minutes of daylight with your sunglasses off, when you can. Never look straight at the sun, and never burn.
- Darkness. A pitch black bedroom, no light at all. He would rather you wear a mask over your eyes at night.
- Cortisol down. Cortisol is meant to be high in the morning to wake you up. The trouble is the constant drip of it from stress.
- Magnesium. He calls it the relaxing mineral.
The cortisol piece is why Martin Clinic talks about stress so much. You are not meant to be stressed around the clock, he says, and when you are, it wakes you up.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725If you're stressed out, cortisol will keep your melatonin low.
More on that in how to lower cortisol after 60. On magnesium he is just as direct.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 725If you're low in magnesium, you won't make as much melatonin. That's why a lot of people, they take magnesium at night and they sleep better.
Last, try to turn off the blue light as bedtime gets close. He admits it is hard. He is on his phone and his iPad a lot for work, which is why he gets out in the sun whenever he can. For the rest of his sleep advice, read why can't I sleep after 60.
Common questions
Is melatonin safe for seniors?
In Dr. Martin's view it is mostly fine. He is not against it, and he says most people do well with it. The side effect he names is feeling sleepy during the day, and some people do not tolerate it.
Why does melatonin stop working?
He calls it a shelf life. In his experience it works for a while and then stops for a lot of people, because your body makes melatonin itself and is built to get it from daylight and darkness.
Is melatonin the same as a sleeping pill?
No. He says melatonin is the hormone your body uses for deep, repairing sleep. He calls sleeping pills sedation pills: you are put to sleep, but you are not really sleeping.
How can I raise my melatonin naturally?
His four things: daylight with your sunglasses off for about 20 minutes, a pitch black room at night, getting cortisol down, and enough magnesium. Cut the blue light from screens as bedtime gets close.
Help your body make its own
Magnesium is one of the four things he goes to before a bottle of melatonin. Martin Clinic's Magnesium Bisglycinate is the relaxing mineral, in a form your body absorbs.
60-day money-back guarantee. Formulated in clinic.These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
