What is Melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced by the body, mainly by the pineal gland in the brain. It has an important role in managing the body’s sleep-wake cycle, known as the circadian rhythm. At night, your melatonin levels rise, telling your body it’s time to go to sleep, and then return to normal levels during the daytime.

Melatonin tablets contain 3mg of a synthetic version of this hormone and are often used to help manage the symptoms of jet lag. It’s a prescription-only generic tablet that you’ll need to take for five days to see effective results and will take 1 to 2 hours to work.

How does Melatonin work?

Travelling quickly across two or more time zones can cause jet lag, meaning your internal body clock is no longer aligned with the day-night cycle of your new location. As a result, you may experience symptoms such as irritability, fatigue and sleep disturbances.

Jet lag can often mean you don’t have enough natural melatonin in your body to fall asleep when you need to. Melatonin tablets work by mimicking this hormone, adding to your body’s supply of it. When taken at the right time - when you’d like to go to bed in your new time zone - melatonin sends a signal to your brain that it’s time to sleep. This can speed up your adjustment to your new time zone and reduce any symptoms of jet lag.

Overview

Type of medicine: Sleep aid
Works by: Contains a synthetic version of melatonin (a natural hormone that helps you to fall asleep)
Active ingredient: Melatonin
Effective within: 1 to 2 hours
Pack size: 30
Strength: 3mg
Generic: Yes
Use with alcohol: No - can cause negative side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness and increased anxiety

Side Effects

Mild side effects of melatonin include: 

• Sleepiness or tiredness in the daytime
• Headache
• Stomach ache
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Irritability and restlessness
• Dry mouth
• Dry or itchy skin
• Arm or leg pain
• Strange dreams or night sweats.

Serious side effects of melatonin include: 

• Feeling low or sad
• Changes to eyesight, e.g. blurred vision
• Feeling faint or passing out
• Vertigo
• Unexplained bruising
• Blood in your urine
• Bleeding that doesn’t stop.

Directions

When taking Melatonin for jet lag, you should: 

• Take one 3mg tablet a day for a maximum 5 days
• Swallow whole with water
• Take when you go to bed
• Try to take it at the same time every day. 

You should always follow your doctor’s advice. If one dose a day isn’t effective, they may advise you to increase your dose to two tablets a day. However, you shouldn’t do this without your doctor’s permission.

There are a number of rules to bear in mind when taking Melatonin:

• Don’t take before 8pm or after 4am
• Don’t eat 2 hours before or 2 hours after taking the tablet
• Don’t do more than 16 courses of treatment in a year
• Skip the missed dose if you forget to take it.