So 4 1/2 months ago my wife and I had our first kid. My workout schedule had to go some serious changes in order to fit in workouts without impacting the family. As a result, I’m limited to early morning training and the occasional lunch workout. Since I rarely even have time to eat lunch at work, the morning workouts are critical. I leave for work about 6:15am, so that means the morning workout needs to start around 4:15 +/- 15 min depending on the workout.
I found I was having real trouble getting to bed early enough to get enough sleep. Also dragging myself out of bed when the alarm went off at 4 was tough. So, I decided to give melatonin a try to help shift my sleep cycle back a couple hours. The good news is that it’s been incredibly effective! I take the melatonin about 6:30pm and I’ve had no problem getting to sleep by 8:30.
Now the downside: my dreams have gone from ‘standard definition’ to full blown ‘HD, surround sound, movie theater level definition’. I wake up feeling a little stunned at how vivid the dreams are. I’m also not feeling the same restfullness from the sleep, but I can’t tell if that’s from the melatonin or from the baby waking us up 2-3 times per night.
Anyway, for those of you with experience with using melatonin, I’d love your feedback.
Did you experience a big change in the clarity and magnitude of your dreams?
Did the dreaming diminish after a while or does it continue as long as you take melatonin?
I have been taking it for approx 7 years. Internal med doc suggested it to help with sleep as opposed to a sleep aid. I don’t take it every night, sometimes I forget, but most nights I do. I also am up at 4 to train every morning. I haven’t really noticed any unusual dreams or any other adverse reactions. But I only take one very small pill (don’t recall the dosage), maybe you need to reduce your dosage and see if that helps with the dream thing.
I’ve used it. The dream stuff is normal based on my reading and my own experience.
My understanding (could be way off) is that you dream more, or more intense, because the melatonin puts you into a deeper (or longer?) REM sleep mode.
Regarding feeling tired, I’d definitely attribute that to the new addition to your family. Been there, still there, still exhausted all the time. I’ve literally averaged 4 - 6 hours sleep per night for the past 4 years, much of it broken sleep.
I have some really crazy dreams when I take Melatonin. I only take it once or twice a week but the dreams have persisted since I started taking it several years ago. I feel a lot more rested after taking it. I don’t know if it is placebo or the fact that I actually go to bed early enough to almost get 8 hours of sleep.
I have been taking it for approx 7 years. Internal med doc suggested it to help with sleep as opposed to a sleep aid. I don’t take it every night, sometimes I forget, but most nights I do. I also am up at 4 to train every morning. I haven’t really noticed any unusual dreams or any other adverse reactions. But I only take one very small pill (don’t recall the dosage), maybe you need to reduce your dosage and see if that helps with the dream thing.
I’m taking 3mg. Seems to be a pretty standard dose. I may try cutting the pill in half to see if I can get the same effect…
So, have you taken it consistently over the past 7 years?
I’ve used it. The dream stuff is normal based on my reading and my own experience.
My understanding (could be way off) is that you dream more, or more intense, because the melatonin puts you into a deeper (or longer?) REM sleep mode.
Regarding feeling tired, I’d definitely attribute that to the new addition to your family. Been there, still there, still exhausted all the time. I’ve literally averaged 4 - 6 hours sleep per night for the past 4 years, much of it broken sleep.
Kind of what I figured. I’m tired whether I take it or not, but I don’t want to exacerbate the fatigue. If what you say about the deeper REM is true, then it’s probably only helping. Thanks.
I have taken it consistently for several years. Not sure how accurate 7 is, but reasonably close I would guess. I have went periods of time without it but its been fairly consistent. I was taking a prescription sleep aid that I didn’t like for several reasons so my doctor ( new doctor for me) suggested I try the melatonin. I can sleep without it, but when I am training hard I know I need a good nights sleep so I normally take it.
Sounds good. I’m always concerned about taking something long term due to any possible effects ont he body or dependency. My hope will be that once I’ve established the new routine, I can stop taking it.
I’m glad you brought this up, I was thinking of doing so myself. Does melatonin have any adverse physical consequences (hangover)? Do you wake up feeling as though you’ve slept well or do you drag yourself out of sleep? I always have difficulty sleeping before any kind of race. If this is taken the night before an event as “sleep insurance” would I be hung over the next day? I’m already a vivid dreamer so I wonder if this would put me over into Inception territory.
I’m glad you brought this up, I was thinking of doing so myself. Does melatonin have any adverse physical consequences (hangover)? Do you wake up feeling as though you’ve slept well or do you drag yourself out of sleep? I always have difficulty sleeping before any kind of race. If this is taken the night before an event as “sleep insurance” would I be hung over the next day? I’m already a vivid dreamer so I wonder if this would put me over into Inception territory.
I have not had any sort of hangover. Actually, waking up has been much much easier, due largely to the increase in the amount of sleep. I roll out of bed and am usually on the trainer or road within 5-10 minutes and don’t feel any different than a normal morning.
Outside of my interruptions from a crying baby, I do feel like I sleep well. However, the dreaming is so vivid that I wake up feeling like I’ve been watching as action packed movie with a complex plot all night. I’m physically rested, but my mind is still racing a bit.
I haven’t noticed anything like that. I wake up normally before my alarm goes off and am ready to go, but I have always been a “morning person”. It doesnt “knock me out” even like an over the counter sleep aid might. I hate taking pills, in fact I take no prescription medicine and rarely take anything over the counter, with Melatonin being the exception. My wife also takes it. Sometimes we run out and may go a few weeks before we get more, so its not like we are dependent on the stuff. If I thought I was I would stop taking it immediately. Just seems to help you relax and sleep better.
I’ve been taking melatonin for about 15 years now. Every night pretty much.
Don’t know if you realized this, but the original paper showing that melatonin worked used a dose of 100 micrograms. When they first started selling the stuff, that was the dose in the pills.
3 milligrams is 30 TIMES the dose shown to be effective in the study. Why they sell it in this dose, I have no idea. For a while I could still find the 100 mcg tablets, then it was 300 mcg, and now the last I looked it was 1 mg as the smallest I could find.
As a result, I take a little bitty chunk of a pill every night.
I haven’t noticed any difference in my dreams, of course I take a lot less than you do.
Do a similar thing. If I take anything north of 1mg I get a melatonin ‘hangover’ when I wake up - just really groggy for awhile. I buy the 1mg sublingual tablets (meant to dissolve under the tonque) and just bite off a portion - 1/4 to 1/3 usually, up to 1/2 if I plan on sleeping in.
I have been a devout melatonin-taker for a year, maybe. I started taking it because hard evening workouts made it impossible to go to sleep for hours. Anyway, I do have more memorable dreams for sure. I also have found that I need to take it well in advance of bed time. More accurately, I need to take it well in advance of waking up. If I can’t sleep for 8 hours (after taking a tablet 2 hours before bed time) I don’t take it at all as it impacts how I feel the next morning. The tablets I take are 3 mg. I typically break them in half unless I’ve had a very hard workout that evening, or am 110% amped, as before a big race. But anyway, as long as I don’t take it too close to bed time, I don’t find it leaves me feeling hungover or anything in the morning.
not to make light or anything, but i’m a very vivid dreamer as it is- I have the HD level dreams probably 2x a week- now you make me WANT to try melatonin! It has been suggested before to me for my sleep problems. Very interesting. Maybe I should try it instead of the other nasty stuff I have to take occasionally
not to make light or anything, but i’m a very vivid dreamer as it is- I have the HD level dreams probably 2x a week- now you make me WANT to try melatonin! It has been suggested before to me for my sleep problems. Very interesting. Maybe I should try it instead of the other nasty stuff I have to take occasionally
I don’t know man. The dreams feel a little weird to me. I guess I’m just used to the foggy, vague dreams I normally have…