An estimated 10 to 30% of American adults struggle to get to high-quality sleep. Tossing and turning isn’t fun for anyone, which is why many people seek natural sleep aids to fall asleep.

For more than 3 million Americans, that solution is melatonin.

Melatonin for sleep

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that signals to your body when it is time to move through its sleep and wake cycles. Our bodies produce it naturally throughout the day and levels start to increase closer to evening, right around sunset. The increased levels of melatonin cause a feeling of sleepiness, with levels hitting their peak while we sleep. When the sun starts to rise, our melatonin levels dip, signaling our body to wake up and start the day.

Melatonin supplements work by externally raising levels of melatonin that signal time for sleep. Because it is a naturally occurring hormone, it can be safely used occasionally by most people. Under the daily recommended dosage — 3mg — melatonin is safe for most people who are deficient in this important hormone. Melatonin can be effective for people who occasionally struggle to fall asleep and can help address sleep-related issues for people who have a deficiency.

What to consider with melatonin for sleep

Melatonin is the sister hormone to serotonin, a “feel-good” chemical that signals energy and alertness in the brain, as well as stabilizes mood. When we have too much melatonin in our systems, it can negatively impact serotonin production and transmission in the brain. This can affect happiness levels, digestion, cognition, and more.

Too much melatonin can also affect our body’s natural wake cycling, keeping us asleep after other functions in our body are signaling it’s time to get up. This leads to drowsiness during the day and a lack of mental clarity. It can also affect other circadian processes in our body, such as deep, restorative sleep, metabolism, and more.

It’s important to note that while melatonin for sleep can help with occasional sleep troubles, people with complex sleep issues should not rely on melatonin alone. If your struggle with sleep is more complicated, it’s likely not just your melatonin levels that are affected. It’s your entire circadian rhythm. In essence, your melatonin levels are the “canary in the coal mine,” signaling that your circadian rhythm is out of sync.

Supporting your body’s natural circadian rhythm

Melatonin is a known component of the circadian rhythm, the master clock of all of our body’s functions. And while using a melatonin-only supplement can help signal to your body that it’s time to sleep, it’s not the only part of the circadian rhythm that needs support. But, if used incorrectly, a melatonin-only supplement can negatively affect your body’s circadian balance.

How? Most melatonin-only products just flush your body with melatonin, which sends signals to your body to feel sleepy. This forced sleepiness can cause a host of problems, including next-day grogginess, mental fog, and difficulty sleeping the next evening. More than that, your body can’t reach the restorative phases of sleep like REM sleep and slow-wave sleep it needs if your circadian clock is out of sync. Without those restorative phases, we wake from sleep feeling like we didn’t get enough rest, and our mood, memory, mental sharpness and appetite all suffer from it.

Our bodies need to reach the different phases of sleep naturally and to align with their own rhythms for maximum health.

RestoreZ vs. melatonin-only products

Instead of shutting down the body for sleep, RestoreZ supports your body’s natural rhythm, so that you can gently and easily fall asleep and get the restorative sleep you need for optimal health. Instead of overriding them by flushing the system with melatonin, RestoreZ’s formulations help balance levels of hormones like melatonin, and neurotransmitters like GABA to help you achieve restorative sleep. The gentle ingredients support your body as it returns to its ownnatural cycle, rather than just forcing it to go sleep.

RestoreZ uses gentle and natural ingredients to help your body adjust to its own cycle, rather than short-circuiting it. If you’re seeking a gentle, safe natural product that can help support your sleep naturally, check out RestoreZ.