Hurray: Melatonin works very well for me

[kavanaugh1950]

I use melatonin too and find it doesn't leave me groggy and with a hangover like benadryl. I also give it to my border collie for thunderstorm anxiety.

[Highnote]

I too started trialing it after SD's suggestions. For the past week, I do feel as though I am sleeping better ... however, I have also noticed that right around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, I start getting very sleepy. Maybe I need to cut back on the dosage?

In Mexico it is called Siesta time

I think it is normal, maybe lunchtime meal has something to do with it, maybe it is our melatonin levels rising, think the effects are made worse at a desk job under fluorescent lights, I used to have the hardest time during that period, I had to get up go walk around, get some tea, go outside and hope it wasn't 105F.

Sleep researchers have found that we have two circadian (body clock) lows each day, one in the middle of the night and one in the middle of the afternoon. One guess as to why is that we evolved in hot climates where the siesta was necessary. A big lunch doesn't make it any easier to prop the eyelids open as we all know. The body doesn't start producing melatonin until about 2 hours before bedtime, and any taken the night before would be long gone. It does tend to advance the body clock when taken anytime after midday (or at night), and that might be part of the reason for afternoon sleepiness.