If you haven’t had a good night of sleep in a while, you’ve probably forgotten what Melatonin feels like. Melatonin is the counter-regulatory hormone to cortisol and is largely responsible for the sleepy feeling you get to prepare you for bed. In healthy individuals, melatonin release occurs at sundown and steadily gets stronger until you can’t resist it anymore and you fall asleep.
What Melatonin Feels Like:
- You feel as though you could fall asleep the moment your head touches the pillow
- You almost worry that you won’t be able to finish your bedtime ritual and physically reach your bed before you fall asleep
- You don’t have to feel exhausted, but you feel like someone is closing your eyes for you (or the darkness is filling your vision from the outside)
- Despite looking at your phone, you cannot stay awake. (You fall asleep texting with your phone in your hand)
- Much like a little kid, you feel like you can fall asleep anywhere and could get a good night’s rest
Now, bright lights (white and blue) block the production of melatonin in the pituitary gland and make it harder to fall asleep. It is true that avoiding lights after sundown is a good idea. However, I want to inform you that if you believe looking at your phone (or not looking at your phone) is a strategy you have to live by because it is able to tip the scales of whether you sleep or not, your melatonin production is NOT where it should be. I believe that you should make adjustments to your lifestyle until the production of melatonin is so strong that you fall asleep with your phone in your hand and you have no choice.
Precursor to melatonin: 5-HTP -> Serotonin -> Melatonin.
Because Serotonin is a precursor to Melatonin, I believe this is why SSRI drugs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) can be effective at treating depression; They maintain neurotransmitter levels that are precursors for melatonin, responsible for making you sleep more deeply. So if you are not producing enough melatonin consider taking 5-HTP or focusing on dietary strategies to increase serotonin. Other strategies include waking at dawn and walking in the morning light to set your circadian rhythm, so that melatonin production is later properly timed with sundown.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to fixing issues with Melatonin but should hopefully serve as a reminder how proper sleep is supposed to feel like.