10 Melatonin Side Effects
Melatonin Side Effect #4: Dosing Confusion
One of the ironic things about taking melatonin - and, indeed, most other sleep aids - is that it can cause insomnia when you use it for extended periods. Melatonin might not cause the same sort of physical dependency that other sleep aids can cause, but it can certainly interfere with the way your body produces hormones.
Taking melatonin every night convinces your body that it doesn’t need to produce it anymore because it’s getting it from an external source. This means that you’re going to have a harder time making your own melatonin when you try to sleep, which can make it very difficult to actually pass out.
One good way to combat this is to use melatonin to help re-establish a sleep schedule, but not to use it as an actual sleep aid. This works because taking melatonin on a nightly basis for a short time can actually help your body begin producing melatonin at the time that you take it.
If your sleep schedule is off, or you’d like to change it for a certain reason, you can begin taking melatonin every night at a set time. After a few days, your body should be conditioned to having melatonin produced at this time. If you stop taking it, your body might remember this and begin producing melatonin at the same time.
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