The most common use for a melatonin dosage is to treat insomnia. Insomnia can have physiological, emotional, or chemical causes, and melatonin can be taken by patients who have insomnia for any of these reasons. Though it will not cure the condition that leads to insomnia, melatonin can help a patient fall asleep more easily and stay asleep longer. It is also possible to be take a melatonin dosage as part of a treatment for certain types of cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, epilepsy, or sunburn.
Melatonin is a hormone is responsible for maintaining the body’s natural rhythm of sleepiness and wakefulness. A natural increase in the production of melatonin when it is dark helps a person feel sleepy at nighttime. A person who does not produce enough melatonin may have difficulty sleeping at night, and a melatonin dosage may be given to correct this deficiency.
A person whose sleep cycle is disturbed due to frequent travel and jet lag or someone who works a night shift can be given a melatonin dosage. The presence of the hormone can help a person fall asleep during daylight hours or at times that the person does not usually fall asleep. The drug is fast acting and should be taken about an hour before it is time to sleep.
Recent studies have also suggested that melatonin may help patients with breast or prostate cancer. Low levels of the hormone in patients with these forms of cancer indicate that the absence of melatonin may place a person at risk for these types of cancers. The use of melatonin as a supplement during chemotherapy may also improve a patient’s response to the treatment.
It has also been suggested that melatonin, applied to the skin, may decrease the risk of sunburn. Melatonin is used in conjunction with sun block and sometimes along with vitamin E. It is not an effective sunblock on its own.
There have been conflicting reports about the use of melatonin for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and for epilepsy. For patients with irritable bowel syndrome, melatonin decreases pain but does not relieve other symptoms of the disorder. Used in the treatment of epilepsy, studies have shown that it either lessens the severity of seizures or that it increases their severity. These contradictory study results mean that it is important for a person to consult with a doctor before using melatonin to treat epilepsy.