melatonin

Snoredog wrote:

oceanpearl wrote:Tried Melatonin 3.0 mg twice. Both time I had the wildest nightmares of my life.

yes it can promote that,

But did you have nightmares as a result of the melatonin's effect or was it you have them all the time and you awoke during REM state of sleep to notice them?

Because that is what melatonin does, it promotes deeper sleep and that may put you in REM longer than without. You may enter REM 1-5 times per night. That means you may have 1-5 dreams per night. You only remember the last dream not the 4 or so that may have been before it. Most likely you only recalled the nightmare because it was the last one you had.

Keep in mind that during REM you are in a near-wake state (as opposed to stage 3/4 or deep sleep). If you are in deep sleep you are much harder to be aroused as compared to REM.

Was it you had nightmares from being deprived from REM for so long or do you have them all the time and never wake up during REM to recall them?

From what I've read over the years while in REM you are in a near-wake state, so you can pop in/out of REM to wake state much more easily than from deep sleep to wake. Some people are light sleepers and yet others heavy sleepers. It is thought that the light sleepers are most likely in REM and the heavy sleepers spend more time in deep sleep.

I remember when I was a teenager, I'd have 3 alarms going off and my Mom would turn on the lights and yell at me to wake up and I'd sleep right through it.

Melatonin is NOT just a aid in insomnia, it helps promote deeper sleep which can put you in REM more so than without. Yes we can all probably get by fine without REM, but show me a study where you actually benefit from the lack of REM.

And that is the thought process behind trying higher doses of melatonin for PLMD.

My theory is your "neuro switch" that normally turns off muscle control as you enter REM sleep is dysfunctional. Let's say if that switch fails in one direction when you are waking or awake, you may find you are awaken to a conscious state and that muscle control hasn't been completely turned back On. When this happens, you wake up finding you are unable to move and have what they refer to as Sleep Paralysis. That is one direction for that "switch".

Now let's say that neuro switch fails in the opposite direction, instead of failing to turn "off" it fails to turn "On".

So now you enter REM sleep where we are thought to dream but without that neuro switch turning "off" muscle control. That may mean you now act out on your dreams, which may include talking, screaming, kicking, etc., etc., etc.

Why is that? what mechanism of our sleep controls that neuro switch?

Is it the time we spend in Stage2 or deep sleep what controls that neuro switch?

Because if that switch was truly "working" as you entered REM you shouldn't be talking, screaming, kicking or basically acting out on your dreams. It is thought that "neuro switch" is there to prevent us from harming ourselves during sleep.

But like all things neurological, there is more they don't know about the brain than what they know. My theory is you need deeper sleep to help turn that neuro switch off and stop the kicking and the Mayo research seems to suggest the same.