Frances (Cabarlah, Qld.) on 10/22/2023

Art, what dose melatonin do you suggest for those who can take the supplement? In some countries like Australia, one needs a doctor's prescription to obtain melatonin; sometimes up to 3mg can be found on eBay.

Replied By Bill (Philippines) on 10/23/2023

Hi Frances,

You should be able to find 10mg melatonin on eBay, Amazon or wherever with a more specific search string. Just now, when I did a search on Ebay using "melatonin 10mg" as my search string, I managed to obtain quite a long list of 10mg melatonin items. And I obtained the same successful result when I searched for "melatonin 10mg" on Amazon.

List of 10gm Melatonin Available on Ebay

It really helps if you use specific search criteria as well. For instance, if you specifically wanted fast dissolve 10mg melatonin then you should type in "melatonin 10mg fast dissolve" into the Ebay or Amazon search box.

Replied By Art (California) on 10/26/2023

Hermes,

As far as dosing by age, I generally would avoid melatonin in people under 25 except for specific health conditions such as Covid-19, sleep problems or cancer as a few examples. I think it is healthful to at least dose minimally once the age of 30 is reached because there is a positive correlation between melatonin decline and age related diseases and for the most part, melatonin has shown benefit in many age related diseases. By age 35, melatonin level has declined significantly and it is around age 35 that age related diseases just start to appear in people and that appearance becomes clearly evident by the early forties.

In the alternative, getting melatonin and vitamin D from the sun is how humans evolved and that seems to work well in general, but as we age, we spend more and more time indoors and less and less time outdoors and I think that we should try and spend more time in the sun, similarly to when we were children in order to continue to get all of the benefits that the sun has to offer us.

Sun exposure also improves mitochondrial function which in turn reduces excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increases ATP production to supply energy to the cell where the mitochondria reside. Excessive ROS is thought to increase the aging process. Melatonin reduces ROS in the mitochondria and melatonin is also produced in the mitochondria and if mitochondrial levels of melatonin decline too much, the mitochondria can draw melatonin in from outside the mitochondria, but this is not optimal because melatonin produced inside the mitochondria can rapidly neutralize ROS, but if melatonin has to be drawn into mitochondria from outside of the mitochondria, the neutralization of ROS may be slightly delayed, allowing ROS to possibly damage the mitochondria or reduce its operating efficiency.

I take high dose melatonin to try and reduce the effects of declining melatonin levels on the body as we age. Dosing seems to vary by the individual. I don't think one size fits all.

Art