I'm a classic night owl by every definition of the phrase. Even trying to convert my sleeping habits over to normal people's hours is incredibly tough for me. Dad used to say I slept to avoid work, but I honestly do my best thinking/work between the hours of midnight and 4 am.

Well, it's come to the point that my career is slightly suffering for it. If you'll note the time of this post, and I have an appointment at 10:30 am. Yeah, gonna be a long one. The real issue is that I'll come home this afternoon, take a nap because I'll be draggin ass, then I'll be up until 4 am again.

 I went to the doctor a few weeks back and she referred me to a sleep pathologist specialist.

Turns out, there are people that are just wired for the night. You can work to reverse the natural sleep cycle, but it takes a solid 6-8 months of effort. The first thing she did was put me on 4 mg of melatonin that I'm supposed to take at the exact same time every single night. I've got my lights changed from 100w to 40 watts. I've got all of my lights on timed dimmer switches so that at 10 pm to midnight it gets progressively darker. No caffeine after 3 pm, and I'm supposed to watch the sugar intake as well.

Supposedly, I'm just training my brain to send signals to my pineal gland to start producing melatonin at 10 pm instead of 4 am. The dimming lights and the supplements are going to help this gradually. Well, we'll see. So far I can tell you that the first few nights of taking the melatonin, it puts you down like a hammer. Now, not so much.

Aw well, off to bed to contemplate man's place in the universe....

I have been taking 6mg of melatonin every night for a little more than 3 years now. It does help me get to sleep, but my problem is that I wake up every 2 or 3 hours. It then takes another hour or two for me to go back to sleep. I have Emphysema and cannot take narcotics. All the other meds I take increase my heart rate and the melatonin convinces my brain that I am sleepy, but a couple of hours later I wake up with breathing problems. If taken right, the melatonin does help. Just stick with it.

 hmmm... I suffer from the same problem...

I usually take 3-6 mcg around 9 p.m.   It usually helps me get to sleep by midnight to 1 a.m., although some nights are different than others.

I'm lucky if I get two hours of sleep without waking up.   I'm an extremely light sleeper, so for years I have used a fan to create "white noise" to help keep me from being awakened by every little noise.

When I was younger I would routinely lay in bed for hours on end, trying to get to sleep.  These days if I can't sleep I usually just get up and do something else until I start to feel drowsy enough to finally drift off.

The one thing I have noticed with Melatonin is that I either have more vivid dreams or at least seem to remember my dreams more often......I'm not sure which.

I have noticed that my insomnia has gotten less persistant as I have gotten older, but I still need a little something to help, and I won't take most OTC or prescription "sleep aids".....so Melatonin it is!

I hear ya, QB. Melatonin is the best way to go as far as "safety" is concerned. There is a danger of viral infection from the type of Melatonin they get from sheep. They detract the Melatonin from the brains of sheep and it can contain things that ain't good for ya. Synthetic Melatonin is the safe type. I know when I first started taking Albuterol and Steroids I thought I'd never sleep again, but my doctor put me on this stuff and now I can sleep at least a few hours each night!

GrizzlyBear

Mmmmmm, sheep Braaaiiiins!!!!      

Are they made in those Heparin producing facilities in China?     lol

Mine says it's "n-Acetyl-5-Methoxtryptamine" so I'd guess that it is synthetic, rather than extracted.

edit: it seems odd that Wiki and other sources refer to Melatonin as "5-Methoxy-N-Acetyltryptamine"....it's been a long time since I took a chemistry class, but "Methoxytriptamine" seems like it'd be a bit different than "Acetyltryptamine"????  Weird.

QB 09 2 81:

GrizzlyBear

Mmmmmm, sheep Braaaiiiins!!!!      

Are they made in those Heparin producing facilities in China?     lol

Mine says it's "n-Acetyl-5-Methoxtryptamine" so I'd guess that it is synthetic, rather than extracted.

edit: it seems odd that Wiki and other sources refer to Melatonin as "5-Methoxy-N-Acetyltryptamine"....it's been a long time since I took a chemistry class, but "Methoxytriptamine" seems like it'd be a bit different than "Acetyltryptamine"????  Weird.

Same chemical, dual nomenclature. Tryptamine is the main body of the chemical, or at least the most massive part of the organic compound if memory of my organic chemistry minor is still sharp. The methoxy group can attach more than likely at two different points, but it would still be the 5 spot on the hex ring regardless of the point. Besides, the weight of the acetyl group (which might act as the organic buffer I'm guessing) would preclude the methoxy group from going anywhere besides the 5 spot.

 So in this case, both the methoxy group in the 5 spot and the acetyl group can only be found in their respective positions on the tryptamine group.

For the hell of it, here's another way to describe it. I wish we had one's this easy in Quantitative Analysis. Man, you'd get some monsters on tests and all you had to go off of were the various methods of spectroscopy. Then you get to name them, draw them, and piece together how they could go and how to synthesize them. Half the class was seniors, the other half grad students. Despite all of that, it was a great class if you're an organic chem kind of person.

N-[2-(5-methoxy-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]acetamide

SaltwaterServr:

QB 09 2 81:

GrizzlyBear

Mmmmmm, sheep Braaaiiiins!!!!      

Are they made in those Heparin producing facilities in China?     lol

Mine says it's "n-Acetyl-5-Methoxtryptamine" so I'd guess that it is synthetic, rather than extracted.

edit: it seems odd that Wiki and other sources refer to Melatonin as "5-Methoxy-N-Acetyltryptamine"....it's been a long time since I took a chemistry class, but "Methoxytriptamine" seems like it'd be a bit different than "Acetyltryptamine"????  Weird.

Same chemical, dual nomenclature. Tryptamine is the main body of the chemical, or at least the most massive part of the organic compound if memory of my organic chemistry minor is still sharp. The methoxy group can attach more than likely at two different points, but it would still be the 5 spot on the hex ring regardless of the point. Besides, the weight of the acetyl group (which might act as the organic buffer I'm guessing) would preclude the methoxy group from going anywhere besides the 5 spot.

 So in this case, both the methoxy group in the 5 spot and the acetyl group can only be found in their respective positions on the tryptamine group.

For the hell of it, here's another way to describe it. I wish we had one's this easy in Quantitative Analysis. Man, you'd get some monsters on tests and all you had to go off of were the various methods of spectroscopy. Then you get to name them, draw them, and piece together how they could go and how to synthesize them. Half the class was seniors, the other half grad students. Despite all of that, it was a great class if you're an organic chem kind of person.

N-[2-(5-methoxy-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]acetamide

I'll just stick with sheep brains.

I take it, and i have a very hard time sleeping without it.

Also i have that same problem with staying up too late, i dont know why but ill be tired all day and i can come home at like 11:30 or midnight and all the sudden be as awake as ive ever been

zcawley:

I take it, and i have a very hard time sleeping without it.

Also i have that same problem with staying up too late, i dont know why but ill be tired all day and i can come home at like 11:30 or midnight and all the sudden be as awake as ive ever been

Yeah I am the same way... The best times for me to fall asleep are between 5pm-7pm est or 4am-5am est. 

If I don't fall asleep during those time periods (usually out of lack of something to do) I'm saying up for another day... :P

Wenkinator:

zcawley:

I take it, and i have a very hard time sleeping without it.

Also i have that same problem with staying up too late, i dont know why but ill be tired all day and i can come home at like 11:30 or midnight and all the sudden be as awake as ive ever been

 

Yeah I am the same way... The best times for me to fall asleep are between 5pm-7pm est or 4am-5am est. 

If I don't fall asleep during those time periods (usually out of lack of something to do) I'm saying up for another day... :P

And depending on when i fall asleep depends on if i have a life. If I fall asleep during the 5pm - 7pm time frame I dont hang with my friends that night...

If I fall asleep at 4-5am I get 1-1.5 hrs of sleep since I wake up at 5:30 est... haha

zcawley:

I take it, and i have a very hard time sleeping without it.

Also i have that same problem with staying up too late, i dont know why but ill be tired all day and i can come home at like 11:30 or midnight and all the sudden be as awake as ive ever been

Man I HATE that!

Several times over the years I've had to travel an hour or more to practice with bands.    There were so many early mornings when I fought the urge to go to sleep while driving home only to feel wide awake as soon as I walked in the damn door!

One of my least favorite feelings is when I know I have to get up early in the morning, but lay in bed for hours and just can't force myself to go to sleep! 

QB 09 2 81:

zcawley:

I take it, and i have a very hard time sleeping without it.

Also i have that same problem with staying up too late, i dont know why but ill be tired all day and i can come home at like 11:30 or midnight and all the sudden be as awake as ive ever been

Man I HATE that!

Several times over the years I've had to travel an hour or more to practice with bands.    There were so many early mornings when I fought the urge to go to sleep while driving home only to feel wide awake as soon as I walked in the damn door!

One of my least favorite feelings is when I know I have to get up early in the morning, but lay in bed for hours and just can't force myself to go to sleep! 

 

I guess I should start taking my melatonin too.

 I use it. I must have a lower tolerance than you guys. I take it, read for about 1/2 hour and I'm out like a light.