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Although I realize there are no quick and easy paths to health, I do sometimes find myself taken in by the promise of an easy cure. I’m never going to believe promises like “take one pill a day and lose 30 pounds a month!” or “buy a big bright green pleasure machine and all your worries will disappear!” But smaller claims sometimes grab me.
For example, when I was first having trouble with my sleep — back before I was prescribed a C-PAP machine — I discovered melatonin.
Melatonin
Melatonin is a naturally-occurring hormone secreted by the pineal gland. Our bodies produce less melatonin during the daytime; production increases during darkness. Its primary function is to “synchronize the biological clock“. For many people, melatonin increases the quality of sleep.
After doing some internet research, I bought a bottle of melatonin supplements from the local natural foods store. Every night about half an hour before bed, I took 3mg of the stuff. You know what? It worked.
After taking melatonin, I would become drowsy within about twenty minutes. I’d sleep soundly all night, and wake refreshed in the morning. (Most of the time, anyhow. Sometimes I’d wake very, very groggy.) But was this an actual product of the melatonin? Or was it some sort of placebo effect?
Full-Spectrum Light
Eventually I stopped taking melatonin. I used my C-PAP machine and expected it to facilitate quality sleep. This hasn’t happened. I returned to my groggy ways. But somehow I forgot about my melatonin until recently. Last week, I remembered how effective melatonin had been for me. I’ve started to taking it every night again. So far, it’s working like a charm.
I’m still pretty groggy in the morning, though, probably because of the dark and dreary Oregon winter. When I mentioned this to my friend, Amy Jo, she loaned me her Apollo Health briteLITE. This little box provides “full-spectrum, 10,000-lux light therapy”, which I believe is marketing speak for “it attempts to reproduce the effects of sunlight”. For the past few days, I’ve been sitting with this for half an hour when I get up in the morning. The crazy thing is, it really does make me feel good. So good that sometimes I sit with it for an hour!
But is there any real effect? Is my body responding to the “full-spectrum, 10,000-lux light therapy”? Or is my improved mood solely mental? I don’t know. I’m not sure I care. All that matters to me is that it works.
This is true for many fitness fads, I think. We hear something that sounds convincing and we want to believe it. Therefore, when we actually put the diet or the exercise or the supplement to use, it works. For a time. Through the sheer power of belief.
I want to believe that with the melatonin and the light, I’m giving my body additional clues about the difference between night and day, encouraging it to behave normally. But maybe I’m fooling myself. Maybe it’s all in my head.
Mac
13 responses so far ↓
1 Alex // Feb 19, 2008 at 5:25 am
Taking melatonin in supplement form is almost always a bad idea. It is a complex hormone and also one of the body’s most powerful antioxidants. Getting it from external sources is thought to prevent the body from making it on its own. Over the long term, this will leave you with a large melatonin deficit and could cause cancer. This is the exact reason why shift-workers have a higher incidence of cancer. They lack melatonin and the protection it provides.
2 Anne Keckler, Personal Trainer // Feb 19, 2008 at 6:28 am
While any exercise is better than none, people will be very disappointed if they expect to get washboard abs from those products they see on television, for example.
The placebo effect doesn’t seem to work as well when it comes to exercise and the many “get-fit-quick” products out there. They’re a waste of time and money.
3 brooklynchick // Feb 19, 2008 at 7:17 am
I’ve had no luck with melatonin but LOVE my light box. It was recommended by a doctor, and I use it every morning after daylight savings.
4 Lauren Muney, wellness + facilitation coach // Feb 19, 2008 at 7:28 am
I think some people are truly needing more light than they receive through their limited-light seasons. In my research it’s pure biology: neurotransmitters need stirring, and daylight helps with the circadian rhythm.
It may be grey outside, but cloudy daylight is better than no natural daylight. Sitting next to a window indoors is better than sitting next to a TV.
However, regular exercise also helps with this rhythm as well. Your body may not want to awaken - but remember one important factor: not only did you start melatonin last week, you also started biking again last week. AHA. Regular exercise (hopefully). Keep that up and you’ll be sleeping wonderfully. I agree that you shouldn’t need regular doses of melatonin if you create a consistent wake-exercise-eat-sleep (not necessarily in that order) cycle. Getting away from the computer and TV are imperative: they flicker (not great for your system - the body has to keep compensating), make you stay in one body position, and often impair your mind of needed ‘attention/rest’ cycles, by forcing you to face them for hours and hours at a time.
Balance your activities. Eat healthy. Exercise. Moderate your TV and computer times with other activities. Do interesting things. Talk to real people - in person… these things will help your sleep (and awakening).
5 d.a. - allingoodhealth // Feb 19, 2008 at 7:35 am
Have you tried a lesser dose of melatonin? I know I’ve seen melatonin at 2 and 2.5 mg.
6 Red // Feb 19, 2008 at 10:24 am
Tell me more about this bright green pleasure machine.
7 Anca // Feb 19, 2008 at 11:26 am
My parents take melatonin when we fly halfway around the world. I once took the special “pills” that combat jet lag — till I learned that homeopathic was no different than a placebo.
8 Sally Parrott Ashbrook // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I was totally skeptical, but I had the same results from the melatonin as you did—at least in terms of falling asleep. It didn’t seem to keep me asleep. But falling asleep is one of my struggles, so there ya go. I need to get some more melatonin!
9 Josh // Feb 19, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I agree with you, most benefits from “fitness tools” are placebo. I tend to be a real pessimist when it comes to supplements even though I have tried many. The number of things that I think work are very low: ephedrine, caffeine, creatine, omega3, and green tea. I’ve also tried a lot of not-so-legal things that do work but I won’t go into those. A lot of people just need something to believe in so maybe it’s not all that bad.
I tried melatonin almost 10 years ago. I don’t remember it helping me get to sleep any better at all. I do remember having very vivid dreams which I find annoying. I would wake up an think I was still in said dream, and continue trying to figure out how to fly the plane, get away from Freddy, or whatever for 10 minutes after waking.
I haven’t tried the light thing but have read about it many times and it seems like it will indeed work although I’m not sure how well. The window I sleep directly under casts heavy light (annoyingly) on my face every morning and I have been feeling great since I moved in, but then again, I started exercising and eating healthy around the same time.
-Josh
10 Carol // Feb 19, 2008 at 3:07 pm
It’s not all “in your head”.
I advocate the use of a light box to fight depression and I am not some new-agey hack.
Visit http://www.cet.org and take their Assessment – middle of top page – to give yourself a measure of the severity of your problem (or lake thereof) with seasonal depression. You will love to visit http://www.yalinisen.org/nyspi/for_Pt/forcet.asp
This is The Center for Environmental Therapeutics “Ask the Doctor” forum presented in conjunction with the Columbia University Medical Center.
S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) is considered a form of severe depression which is often treated with a light box, and by the way, Wellbutrin (a.k.a. Bupropion) also works great for this issue. Sitting in front of a light box that delivers at least 10,000 lux of light immediately after you wake up impacts your mood positively whether you have seasonal depression, regular depression, or no depression. Ideally the light is positioned a bit above your head and points down so that the light receptors in the bottom of your eye are impacted.
Carol
11 Brigid // Feb 20, 2008 at 7:37 am
Melatonin has worked like a champ for me for quite a few years. I only take it when I need it though. I’ll give myself about an hour and if I’m not asleep, I’ll take it and read for awhile until I get drowsy.
Back in the day, I used to take tryptophan supplements which produced roughly the same effect until a few people keeled over and someone figured that tryptophan was to blame. So it’s off the market now, but you can still buy cigarettes. Go figure!
I’ll also testify that there seems to be some logic behind the full-spectrum light as well. I used to have really bad depression for much of my life in Michigan. I moved down to Florida and I have not had the same problems. I also no longer have to shovel snow which I think has something to do with it as well:-)
Ultimately, if there’s a placebo effect, it still an effect. If it works for you - do it. I would say the only caveat is watch what you spend. There can be a fine line between psychological effects and getting ripped off.
12 Emily // Feb 25, 2008 at 7:00 am
I moved from the sunny south to Boston a couple of years ago and discovered that I get SAD (big time!). My doctor recommended that very same light box, which I used every morning for 30 minutes. I’m an engineer, not a hippie, so after a while, I would start to think it was just quackery, and stop. And inevitably I’d end up depressed again - which means I’d have no energy all day but couldn’t sleep at night. After a couple days of going back on the box, I’d be feeling like myself again.
My roommate was not bothered by the lack of sunlight in the first place, so her brain probably works differently than mine, and she’d probably see no effect with the light box. I think it’s efficacy probably depends on how sensitive you are to amount of light in the first place.
13 Granata // Mar 8, 2008 at 5:29 pm
When I raised parrots we installed full spectrum bulbs in the room that we kept them in. I always liked hanging out in that room. I’ve thought about getting similar bulbs for my office, but I’ll look into this light box first.
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