Melatonin for mitochondria, not for bedtime.
Melatonin may have antimicrobial properties that may help with antibiotic resistant infections and has been reviewed or trialed for CoV era treatment.
Small amounts of Melatonin taken in the morning fifteen minutes prior to flush niacin may help support mitochondrial health or improve dysfunction, without causing circadian cycle sleep disruption.
Regarding a post shared in the comments of the last post on sleep, gut and melatonin, (reference list is in this earlier longer version):
I use about 10 mg of melatonin prior to ~ 100 mg niacin twice, or occasionally three times a day (if feeling worse). I try to offset the niacin acidity with a pinch of potassium or sodium bicarbonate.
Note on buffered supplements of flush type niacin (nicotinic acid, NOT niacinamide forms) vs bulk nicotinic acid powder: *GNC supplements of flush niacin would be buffered for acidity compared to the bulk powder I am currently using. Note that many companies no longer carry or sell flush type niacin in larger doses. Fullscript offers a 50 mg as the largest available, while GNC also carries a 250 mg and a 500 mg tablet of flush-type niacin.
Antimicrobial use of Melatonin (bulk powder would be needed for this level of ‘mega dosing’): Larger amounts of melatonin spaced during the day of melatonin was found to have some anti-CoV potential (lots ~ 600 mg, taken as five evenly spaced doses (120 mg) during the day, not for 'sleep' purposes - mitochondrial support or antimicrobial/anti-inflammatory.
Dosing note: My use of ‘10 mg’ melatonin would also be considered a ‘mega dose’ compared to the 1-3-5 mg melatonin supplements that are typically prescribed as ‘pharmaceutical levels’ for bedtime sleep aid.
Bedtime sleep aid note: I do not use or recommend melatonin at bedtime for promoting sleep.
{*My bullet points are broken.}
Instead, I recommend cooling and calming the brain and body:
1. Cool: Take 3 grams of glycine or Dimethylglycine instead and it will calm the mind and cool the body, and let you drift off to sleep naturally as the body is designed to do. Glycine deficiency would or could be a causal factor in a racing ‘insomnia’ mind.
2. Cool: Other things that can help promote sleep - a ice pack wrapped in cloth and put on the forehead. The brain and body has to cool before sleep.
3. Cool: Room temperature of ~ 65’F might help compared to 72’F room temperature or a muggy summer night without air conditioning.
Circadian Cycle Lighting
1. Circadian Cycle lighting: Get morning sunshine, afternoon sunshine, and dim lights about three hours prior to bedtime, or switch to red light for the evening hours (approximating campfire light or twilight calm) or wear blue light blocking glasses at night.
2. Circadian Cycle lighting - get some exercise while you’re out there, so you are physically flowing well lymphatically, work on full-range body motions and rhythmic walking, rowing, Qi gong, or pushing a lawn mower. *Note, paying people to exercise for you is not helping your lymphatic flow or health or promote a good night’s sleep…. maybe get out there and do the lawn mowing for yourself… (not just the Homeowner’s Association requirements ;-). Willy Wonka, “Wait, reverse that.” …You PAY other people to live a healthy life, while staying trapped inside? ;-)
Vagal Techniques - meditative calm, and lymphatic/energy flow and cytoplasm/lymphatic fluid support.
1. Vagal technique: Essential Oils that calm: Diffusing lavender or bergamot essential oils may help promote sleep or reduce anxiety and PTSD issues.
2. Vagal technique: Humming or singing quietly to yourself may help synchronize and calm a racing mind. *This may not work if someone else doesn’t want quiet humming or singing.
3. Vagal/meditative: Thumb to thumb hand positions, gently held against the chest, may help calm, along with trying to slow the breathing rate and meditatively letting go of racing thoughts.
Laying in bed totally wide awake is not really going to help you get to sleep….
1. Get back up, its hopeless right now: Insomnia tip… if the thoughts are too numerous, wakefulness simply is present, get back up and write it out, then try again later. Keep lights dim or red, so blue light excitement isn’t adding to the over-stimulated mind. While you’re up anyway. have another 3 grams of glycine in water with a little Pure Maple Syrup to sweeten and flavor it and a pinch of potassium or sodium bicarbonate to offset the acidity. Go back to bed once you’re calmer and physically, literally, cooler.
Go get a gel ice pack from your freezer (plan ahead) and wrap it in fabric and lay down with it on your forhead, once you are ready to try to go to sleep again.
Emergency hack, wrap a bag of frozen peas, corn or other moldable frozen food in fabric and use that instead of the sprained ankle type gel freezer pack.
4. Cool: Migraine? the ice pack wrapped in fabric on the forehead and eyes (blackout darkness helps), can be helpful for a migraine headache too. If that isn’t helping enough…. time for an Epsom salt bath, and the magnesium and sulfate may help the migraine and promote sleepiness.
Over-Acidity within the body… muscle cramps are hurting too much for sleep right now.
1. Acidity: Leg cramps or back of the skull cramps? that is likely overacidity, potassium or magnesium or better hydration in general might be needed. The glycine in water may help, or more specifically, magnesium glycinate in water (~ 200 mg of elemental magnesium, would be a larger spoonful rather than a capsule as the glycine is bulky—it is a small amino acid while magnesium is a trace mineral with a charge of 2+ as an ion, it likes to buddy up with -2 negatively charged atoms or molecules.
More polyphenol support combined with magnesium’s muscle calming effects - a cup of warm tea:
4. Vagal/polyphenol and magnesium (delphinidin) support of structured water cytoplasm and lymphatic flow: …maybe drink some Chamomile tea or lavender tea prior to bedtime. Or delphinidin rich Blue Lotus flower or Butterfly Snap pea or blue chicory flower tea. Delphinidin, which packs 4 atoms of magnesium on every blue/red pigment of delphinidin (a polyphenol in black beans, brown chana garbanzo beans, red pomegranate or purple or red or black grapes, etc, deep purple/red pigment in black or purple varieties of standard produce, black sesame seeds - often high oxalate foods are the black varietals, except the brown chickpeas are low oxalate, and widely used in India for health or good hair reasons and as a protein food.)
Acidity and ‘vagal techniques’ are related to cytoplasm and structured water like quantum flow — limited flow, limited energy to do activity, or clean up and repair while you sleep.
2. Acidity = cytoplasm is not structured properly and lymphatic flow is sluggish - your Jello TM structure had a glass of acidic soda poured on it and is now a mess of watery edema in some areas and stagnant toxin back up in other areas, with an excess of free calcium causing muscle cramping…. Back to the leg cramps or back of skull muscle knots: Gently massage and for bonus value, use a few drops of Cypress essential oil in a spoon of carrier oil (MCT coconut oil or olive oil or organic massage oils). The Cypress oil helps soothe muscle cramps and pain and can help that back of the skull issue along with some gentle massage or holding/counter pressure against the pain points. …
3. Acidity:
Major Life Hack DO NOT ACCEPT PAIN MANAGEMENT AS A ‘SOLUTION’, THAT EQUALS ACCEPTING PAIN AS A DAILY PART OF LIFE THAT NEEDS TO BE MANAGED INSTEAD OF CORRECTED AND ELIMINATED: »» Prevention is better than pain management… correct the overall body acidity so that muscle cramps are not present.
→ Topical magnesium Option 1: Epsom salt bath, yes, it is the middle of the night and cold…. but use warm, but not overly hot water, 1-2 cups of Epsom salt, and soak for 20 minutes. [It may be worth it.] Why shout in ALL CAPS? because the Western medical model is built on pain and symptom management rather than figuring out how to restore normal function and doing that instead of writing a prescription for a symptom management pill… or surgery.
4. Acidity: Why topical magnesium?: If inflammation is chronic, then poor gut absorption of magnesium is something I would bet money on, as being also present. Drugstores or the pharmacy department sell bags of Epsom salt for about $6…. I would bet you $6 that your investment would be worth the money and time spent soaking.
4.1 Adequate magnesium is needed to counterbalance and relax the muscle contracting effects of a body overloaded with calcium. [Option 2: Epsom salt foot soak in a 5-gallon bucket size container or large tote bin—lower leg soak, not just a little footbath designed for a pedicure. Option 3: a handsoak bowl.]
4.2 Gut microbiome balance is needed to make vitamin K2 in sufficient quantities to support the cofactor role menaquinone-7 (vit K2 or MK-7) plays in calcium binding proteins, so that the body’s calcium is controlled rather than over-activating body parts or causing excess cell actions (aka racing thoughts, and a jittery feeling body), leading to cell excitotoxicity and cell death.
4.3 Adequate zinc, magnesium, and resistant starches or fiber in the diet help gut balance. Modern ultra-processed foods tend to support negative species and lead to loss of the beneficial species…. they can’t survive on ‘modern diets’. That could be a clue that modern diets are not very life supporting for humans either, and that is worth thinking about….
References
Melatonin 1) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5387000/ 2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18289175/ 3) review article on CoV topis: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8190272/
Magnesium and calcium in cell and muscle activity: see page G3, Relaxation & Stress on my site effectivecare.info. Grab a cup of tea, it is not a short page. It might be effective at putting you to sleep though :-)
Sleep: References and my original post on Sleep and Health, an excellent neuroscience Coursera course was the basis of much of that article’s summary, points, now expanded on in the above loosely numbered list, but more info on some of the subpoints is in this earlier post:
The Coursera course is still available, I highly recommend it and I did do the ‘Advanced” sections that are considered optional, (as they are intensely advanced, cutting edge Graduate or beyond, research, of one or more of the instructors).
Environmental cues and genetic differences can affect sleep patterns. Teens need an average of ten hours sleep at night, similar to toddlers, as both age groups are doing rapid growth. Teen suicide rate and poor school performance are related to lack of sleep and or very early morning school bus routes….
Great course, has easier sections and couple Graduate level neuroscience: Sleep, Neurobiology, Medicine and Society, (coursera.org)
How Nature and Nurture Shape the Sleeping Brain, (nature.com)
Melatonin and niacin revisit
I have been using melatonin and niacin in the morning and day, twice or three times since approximately November 2020. My genetics lean schizophrenia though, and the niacin may be helping me in ways specific to my odd genetics, rather than just helping prevent or fight a low level infection. See: Abram Hoffer’s research or lay-reader book about niacin. He is the “niacin-guy”, Dimitry Katz, PhD, just expanded niacin use to CoV era. Higher niacin use seems to help the schizophrenia patient subgroup - histamine excess may be a better name for ‘schizophrenia’ for same patients though. The niacin helps reduce inflammation and also histamine excess by inhibiting mast cell degranulation. Pomegranate peel/persimmon/sumac/green tea also help reduce mast cell degranulation.
More allergy mast cells releasing more histamine, leads to more itchy, puffy, painful symptoms and maybe nasal congestion too … none of which are conducive to a good night’s sleep.
Take home points: Sleep might seem as easy as taking 1-3 mg of melatonin (bottle ~ $10-20) prior to bedtime… but my money ($6) is on the bag of Epsom salt.
For good sleep and good collagen production: ~ $22 for a pound of glycine powder (capsules of an amino acid is a money sink rather than a functional food serving) (iherb.com)
Melatonin as a bulk powder:
Melatonin that I use: PureBulk.com, 25-gram packet, $16.75, (lasts forever it seems, a smaller packet would be fine). 10 milligrams is ~ a tiny bit on the tip of a paring knife point. 25 grams = 25000 milligrams and would be ~ 2500 servings of 10 mg… almost 7 years worth using one serving per day, or ~ 2 years if I use it three times a day. Does it ‘expire’? Maybe. Keep it air-tight, and away from heat and light and humidity.
Expiration Dates of Medications or supplements:
If powders smell funny or change color… throw it away. If it still seems fine, it may be fine based on government testing of their own backstock of emergency supplies… but they didn’t publicize the findings as updated expiration date guidance. Many chemicals were found to not ‘expire’. Tablets of minerals like calcium or magnesium oxide = a rock = lasts rock length of times if not wet. Vitamin C will change color. Amino acid powders may start smelling ‘spoiled’ or change color. Oil based supplements or omega 3 fatty acid oils are delicate comparatively, and may have a short shelf life, even just 6 months or as short as leaving it in a hot car too long. Throw it away if it smells or tastes rancid ~ that means it is oxidized or old omega- fish oil products may leave a ‘fishy’ after taste or burp.
Companies are required to put expiration dates on packages in the US since 1979, byt the Food and Drug Administration. What is the date based on? Some foods may have an FDA defined expiration date to use. For newer or unique/protected by the company formulations, the expiration date may simply be based on the company’s longest research study of the product. And that may have only been a year or two, before the company would want to launch their packaged and labeled product. Why wait 10 years for a study on ‘expiration date’ before selling it? and…. What if it was still effective at 10 years? Does the company wait another 20 years before marketing it with a 30 year efficacy date now on the package, backed by rigorous research? … no, they are going to sell the product sooner with a shorter expiration date.
»»> The image article: Drug Expiration Dates — Do They Mean Anything? - Harvard Health. Answer, depending on the product type, yes or no.
My summary or interpretative example:
Rock like magnesium oxide, acts like a rock in the gut too… so more delicate chelated magnesium glycinate is a fluffier powder you can mix in water and it is amino acid based so it would have a ‘Expiration Date’, but how long it lasts would be affected by humidity, light or excess heat. The tablet of magnesium oxide will remain fine as long as it doesn’t get wet. It could tolerate more heat than the magnesium glycinate and likely would also be not very affected by light (a clear package instead of a light proof package). If it got wet but was then dried out, it would remain fairly usable in a less perfect tablet shape, but still retaining rocklike rockness.
Video, brief, click through regarding standard definition and use of Expiration dates on drug or supplement products - use within the date. George Anagli x.com
Disclaimer: Wandering around a point is my style, good luck readers… This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance but if you spent $6 on Epsom salt and didn’t like it, let me know and I will send you a check for $6, {spammers or scammers, need not apply}.