Melatonin’s sleep-inducing action starts working after around ten minutes and, since it’s a substance that our bodies are accustomed to producing naturally, it doesn’t leave residues of any sort.

Italian version

Remember when melatonin was the object of heavy debates during the years of the “Di Bella” experimentation? At that time the Ministry of Health issued strict rules regarding its prescription. This made it quite difficult to use the product which many people had been using for years as a natural sleep inducer.

 It took at least 5 minutes to write a prescription for melatonin in that period (in the same way as for hallucinogens, with an informed consent clause that had to be signed by the patient). It was much easier for a doctor (health service or private) to prescribe an anxiolytic with a short, 5-letter name, than to go through so many complications.

Now it’s easy again to obtain melatonin and many preparations of up to 3 mg. are once again available without a prescription. However, sometimes patients return from trips carrying capsules of melatonin as if they were importing forbidden products ; they’re perplexed when I explain to them that melatonin could always be prescribed in Italy, too, (without difficulty except in the cases described above) if the doctor chose to do so.

The big problem with melatonin is that it functions very well but it can’t be patented and therefore the pharmaceutical companies weren’t able to manage patent income. An interesting recent work (Leger D. et al. Am J Med 2004 Jan 15;116:91-5) on insomnia sufferers studied the patient’s production of melatonin during the night to see if the substance’s sleep-inducing effect could be confirmed.

Melatonin’s sleep-inducing action starts working after around ten minutes and, since it’s a substance that our bodies are accustomed to producing naturally, it doesn’t leave residues of any sort. Its effect wears off after 3-4 hours. It not only induces sleep, it also regulates the sleeping-waking rhythm and, after a period of 1-2 months of therapy, patients are often able to go back to sleeping spontaneously.

The study in question showed that insomnia sufferers produced much less melatonin than the non-insomnia sufferers in the control group. Melatonin produced greater positive effects on sleep among the people who produced less melatonin (and suffered from insomnia).

So, it would seem that if physiological melatonin helps to induce sleep (as well as other important functions), it’s normal that people who don’t produce it are likely to have insomnia. If melatonin is given to these people, they will be able to go back to sleeping, too.

This is certainly a lovely demonstration of scientific rationality, too bad that most doctors prefer to prescribe patented sleep-inducers (that is, sleeping pills or classical benzodiazapines).

Personally, I use and prescribe melatonin dosages that vary from 3 to 10 mg (usually 5 mg). The capsules are to be taken in the evening, before going to bed. Only in rare cases have I needed to reduce the dosage for more sensitive patients.

Italian version