🔼: [[Hormones]], [[🛠 Supplements]] # Melatonin --- Melatonin helps reset your body clock, letting your body know when you should be asleep. [[💡 Sunlight and Light Exposure]] decreases Melatonin production, darkness increases it. Screens / Blue Light lower Melatonin production. So we take a Melatonin supplement, but our bodies are more effective at producing Melatonin than we are at supplementing it. ## Melatonin-Rich Foods - [[Eggs]] - [[Fish]] - [[Milk]] - [[Rice]] - [[Barley]] - [[Rolled Oats]] - [[Grapes]] - [[Pomegranates]] - [[Walnuts]] - [[Sunflower Seeds]] - [[Seeds, Mustard]] - [[Flaxseeds]] - [[Asparagus]] - [[Broccoli]] - [[Cucumber]] - [[Chocolate]] - [[Chickpeas]] - [[Red Meat]] - [[Poultry]] - [[Cherries]] ![[The FDA does not regulate Supplements]] > [!tip] > Some medical professionals recommend against using supplementary Melatonin each night, and is often suggested as a last resort because it's a hormone. Learn [[🦮 How to Improve Sleep]] and ask your doctor before trying Melatonin. Melatonin supplementation can potentially worsen symptoms of [[💡 Depression]], but a low dose is unlikely to cause problems. Listen to your body. Dosage varies person-to-person, though a sleep doctor recommended a small dose of 0.1MG-0.3 MG to me and said to slowly increase as needed, taking it 1-2 hours before you'd like to sleep. I bought a $6 bottle of liquid melatonin from The Vitamin Shoppe, 0.3MG is surprisingly effective for me. Adjust the dose depending on [[⭐️ Sleep]]-quality, dreams, and how you feel. ###### Back End Melatonin is a hormone produced by the Pineal Gland and Entero Chromaffin of the Gastro Intestinal Tract [[💡 Tryptophan]] => [[💡 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)]] => [[💡 Serotonin (5-HT)]] => Melatonin