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So...melatonin is a natural produce of the body. Last night I took 6mg's. I fell asleep without even realizing it...and no dream recall whatsoever. Woke up angry I missed a night of possible lucidity! So the post is for anyone that's had any experience with melatonin...how did it affect you? Dream recall? Lucidity? Also anyone who has attempted WILD with melatonin...how did it affect your attempt. Just looking for some good wide ranged feedback!
I have never taken it...if you sleep too heavily you will never remember dreams.
From what I've heard, Melatonin causes REM rebound, where REM periods are suppressed at the beginning of sleep, but grow longer and gain more frequency as the duration of the sleep increases. From my personal experiences with the supplement, my recall is just as good as without it, and certainly no worse.
Never taken it, but it is mainly used to make a person more tired and sleep deeper, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it kills recall.
I used to take it to help me sleep, and it never negatively affected my recall. In fact, after taking 6mgs of it for the first time, I had one of the longest, most vivid dreams of my life.
That was about 4 years ago though. When I take it now, it really doesn't even make me tired anymore.
It never really works the same for me. But thanks for reminding me that I've got a jar full of the stuff in my medicine cabinet. Gonna take some tonight.
I have experimented with melatonin three-four times and every single time I have zero dream recall. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.
Sometimes i take it to make sure my sleep pattern is uninterrupted: i take 2.5mg around 10PM, it starts working after one hour. The i go sleep and wake up after 7 hours feeling really refreshed. It's very useful when i have to get up at 6:30 :)
What about dreams recall? As usually - some days i have zero dream recall and it's very rare :)
The first or second time i had zero recall but each next time i had't experience any problems :)
Thanks for the input! I'm going to try I a few more times with less mg's to see if it has any different effects....thanks again for all the input!
So... yeah... I totally dropped the ball on this one. But tonight's another night!Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Frapo
Hey captain Frapo.. How did it work out for you?
I take it sometimes and usually have more vivid dreams towards the early morning due to the rem rebound. its a great supplement for increasing vividness and length but doesn't work for everyone.
It works for me, but inconsistently. When it works, though HOOOOOOO boy. I feel like it gives me the shits, though. Anybody else?
Melatonin usually creates a REM rebound for me, but not always. Try mixing it with B6.
It usually gives me very vivid dreams but always later on in the night or in the morning. Also I read that you don't really need to take a lot every night, Just about 1 or 2 mg's.
Indeed. You really do not need a lot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Emecom
But taking more will not hurt. And for me, 6mg has a much more noticeable effect at helping me get to sleep than only 3mg. Melatonin is completely safe and nontoxic. You cannot overdose on melatonin, there is no known lethal dosage in humans. I was reading an interesting article about an increasing number of (quite ignorant) people trying to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills that consist merely of melatonin. Needless to say, those who wound up in the emergency room due to overdoses were completely fine.
Although, Melatonin is also not strictly regulated (though it's getting better), so make sure you aren't getting yours from questionable sources. Pick a well known brand name.
I haven't had the best recall to begin with (normally about one dream a night) and when I take it, it usually drops to 0, unless I take it with B6. I haven't been taking melatonin long enough to really conclude that it has a negative effect on my recall because of my old sleeping habits were pretty much random.
I have taken it alot in the past. Sadly, no dream recall. I know it won't help you lucid dream, and it wouldn't help make entries in your dream journal, either.
Lynn, its a huge step to outright claim that you know it would be ineffective when so many of us find it very very effective.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lynn
In adding to this topic, I would suggest taking it on nights that you really can sleep as long as you need the next day... The reason is that I have noticed that towards the end of my body's need to sleep my dreams are very vivid and LD's are much easier when taking Melatonin.. But if you have to get up after 5 hours of sleep, you are likely to remember nothing at all, because it is likely your rem period had not even started yet and you have no dreams to recall... dreams come much later in the night when taking Melatonin so only take it when you have time to experience those much later rem stages. Otherwise, dont take it if you will not be able to sleep long enough the next day and you will get your usual rem schedule, resulting in dreams earlier in the night.
I normally only see dreaming results from melatonin when I pair it with something else. For example, I will take it early in the night, then take something else during a late-night WBTB. Or I will pair it with something like B vitamins or Galantamine which normally prevent me from falling asleep. If I just take melatonin and go to sleep, I normally see decreased dream recall.
I have found it to at the very least not affect my dream recall and at the very best helped me very much. I don't know why it is I just recall better when I take it I guess. Or maybe it's just by chance that my recall was better on the days I took melatonin.
If find that even at low doses (<1mg) I feel sleepy very quickly. Any doses higher than that upset my stomach, and I almost consistently suffer sleep paralysis at higher doses, so it's really not worth it for dream recall or LD's. Also, if I go to bed immediately after taking it, I experience annoying myoclonic jerks and hypnagogic hallucinations that are not very pleasant. I know it is chemically the most 'natural' sleep but it feels the worst and scariest, compared to alternatives like diphenhydramine or the drugs that act on GABA receptors.