A Short Guide to Melatonin

(I researched this over 25 years ago to deal with sleep issues. Case in point it's common to think that light enters the eye, and automatically triggers the melatonin production cycle. It doesn't. The signalling actually transverses around the brain three times including once path process down the spine - which means people who've hurt their spine and are having sleep issues, it could because the impedance of that pathway. It's why I tried it since I was a couple years into a bad neck injury and found it very effective for a time - sweet relief. Eventually the pathway in the neck resolved and I didn't rely on melatonin as much.)

Additional points:

Use real or quality melatonin - there's a lot of junk out there in some brands. I unfortunately found one brand (polular Australian health brand at the time) I could eat by the handful and they did nothing. Chemists or pharmacies can or make capsules using good quality melatonin on demand.

Timing of the dose is important. It also helps to establish a sleep rhythm, so the dose is taken roughly half an hour before slipping into bed and turning the lights off.

One of the drawbacks too little or perhaps poor absorption can lead to a situation where after a short period of time after finally getting to sleep, being woken ... and finding your body is ready for the new day and wide awake and feeling too refreshed to sleep. More (for me) melatonin doesn't solve this problem.

I did experience a slight tolerance to taking melatonin, which is why I would use it to set a sleep pattern and give it a break for however many days until I needed to help to time the sleep cycle again.