Regulating Sleep with Melatonin

As I mentioned before I love sleep. It is one of those fascinating subjects best studied in bed, under the covers, eyes closed. But what happens when you get in a state of disjointed, interrupted, not-quite-enough sleep? Well for me, it means I stop performing at my best. Working and going to graduate school full time has cut my sleep anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on weeknights and up to 8 or 9 on the weekends. One thing I know for sure is very little healing is going on while I sleep.

I first experimented with melatonin in 1997 when I got my hands on a copy of the Balches' Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Although I still find the idea of supplementation fascinating I am much more strategic in my choices. Initially I was vastly confused because I was not quite certain what my individual needs were, and to combine this with the notion of a miracle inherent in every supplement made me want to take them all! Of course, this is a terrible plan. But it is a cycle I find myself repeating as I think about the supplements I want to take while Juice Feasting.

The first one I am considering is melatonin on an as needed basis. It is difficult laying in bed while it is still light out and trying to fall asleep--my monkey mind seems to be in overdrive. Yet I know it is unwise to take melatonin when I am exposed to any light. I have taken it a few times this last month to reset my clock so I can regulate my sleep and sleep through disturbances. I have covered up the light on my alarm clock and hid under the covers before I allow the melatonin to dissolve in my mouth. I am in a deep sleep within two minutes. I have also found I can only take melatonin when I don't have to get up in the morning. It is such a deep sleep that for me that I do not awake instantaneously with much on my mind, but a slow, sluggish, blank-slate awakening.

It is delicious.