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Comment by baddox | Hacker News Reader

As I understand it, F.lux works because your body uses light cues to determine the rate of melatonin production. Essentially: less light (or warmer light) => more melatonin production => sleepiness.

Rather than mess around with your monitors' color balance (which I find extremely annoying), I just skip the first step and pop an over the counter melatonin pill. It works splendidly, doesn't seem to be habit forming (been using it on and off for 5 years; it basically got me through the last 2 years of college), and doesn't seem to have any adverse side effects other than more vivid dreams (or, equivalently, better recollection of dreams).

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I tried melatonin a few times and experienced some very groggy mornings. I also experienced a few nights where I could not sleep after taking a 3mg tab.

For those considering it, let me suggest a very small dose (0.5-0.75 mg, or 1/4th of a tablet) and 9-10 hours to try it out. Don't pop one of these at 2am and expect to feel great the next day.

Are your groggy mornings after only sleeping a few hours? I only use melatonin if I am able to get at least 7 hours of sleep, or maybe 6.5 in a pinch, but with or without melatonin I'll be groggy in the morning with less than 6.5 hours of sleep. I take 1mg doses, although I initially took 3mg and didn't notice a difference. This study seems to show that 3mg is overkill, and that .3mg is probably sufficient:

http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/86/10/4727

I had one night of hitting the sack at 10am after taking 3mg and not sleeping at all (maybe 4am?). The other night I took 3mg 8-9 hours before waking up and I still felt groggy.

I wouldn't deter people from melatonin but they should start with very small doses.

Trader Joe's has 500mcg (i.e. 0.5mg) tablets. Walmart had 300mcg tablets, which were absolutely ideal, but they've stopped carrying them locally.

There was an excellent article I read a few years back which made the case that 300mcg is the ideal dose for nightly use. Over 1mg, the body adapts to it and it loses effect.

The smaller tablets are preferable to breaking larger ones, since it's hard to be consistent due to the manner in which they crack, as well as the potentially uneven distribution of melatonin to filler in each tablet.

I've used melatonin. When I first tried it, I was on a lot of medication, so my brain chemistry was pretty whacked, and it would leave me feeling half asleep for like 3 days. I agree with the suggestion to try a low dose version. However, it also helps to take co-q-10 the following morning. It is the co-enzyme to melatonin and wakes the brain up. It counteracts the effects of melatonin.

For those saying melatonin left you wide awake: It also has immune function uses. I have had times when I took it (during the day) to treat a health issue rather than a sleep issue and the impact was to wake me up.

As I understand it, it isn't so much less light or warmer light as much as it is a lack of blue light. The amount of blue light during the day time in the sun is huge. F.lux works by reducing the color temperature which greatly reduces the amount of blue light coming from the display and shifts it to red light.

I might've misused the word "warmer," but I thought warmer light just meant light with less blue in it.

+1 for melatonin. I actually like the vivid dreams. I also dream in brighter colors while on it.

I have noticed that it doesn't mix well with alcohol though. It still puts me to sleep, but then I'm up at 4am and definitely not refreshed.

As far as I know vivid dreaming is not equivalent to better recollection of dreams. A dream is vivid when and only when you are aware of the fact that you're dreaming while it happens. It isn't necessarily true just because you're able to recall.

That's not at all what I meant by "vivid." I meant clear and intense, not necessarily a lucid dream. I only mentioned that recollection may be equivalent, because it's possible that, while not using melatonin supplements, I was technically dreaming just as much, but my sleep/wake pattern was such that I never recalled the dreams in the morning.

OT: That's lucid dreaming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

I stand corrected. Thank you.

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