To sleep, that activity so pleasant and necessary but at the same time difficult for many of us. And that’s it what for many is a matter of simply closing your eyes to another is a real nightmare which means endless tossing and turning in bed or waking up several times throughout the night. “Expert advice to sleep more and better”, “foods that help you fall asleep”, “keys to fight insomnia”… Yes friends, we have read all the articles that are and will be about how to sleep a lot and very good but no, they don’t work.

We know how to always go to bed at the same time, use the bed only for sleeping (no movies or telecommuting), to stop using the cell phone at least an hour before bed… and nothing. We even tried the military technique of falling asleep in under two minutes! Y spoilers: no, it didn’t work either. So today we are going to explore its benefits melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that the NIH experts say “helps control the body’s sleep cycle and is an antioxidant.” In other words, It can help us both fall asleep and sleep better.

What is melatonin

Although melatonin occurs naturally in our body, its levels sometimes decrease for various reasons. “The amount of melatonin is not constant throughout life” they explain from a study by the Spanish Sleep Society (SES), “the levels increase during childhood (…), with puberty the synthesis decreases abruptly and after 40-45 years it gradually decreases“they state. That is, as we age, our melatonin levels decrease, causing the risk of sleep disturbances.

Conditions that not only worsen our quality of life, but also Sometimes they are so strong that they prevent us from going about our daily activities and chores normally.. This is where melatonin supplements come into play. As with iron or many types of vitamin, there are also melatonin supplements to make up for these low levels in some people.

Types of melatonin supplements

While these supplements can come in a variety of formats, here are three of the most popular:

This type of format is one of the easiest to consume because the texture of a jelly bean makes us want to eat more of it. These from Nutrilite contain melatonin, vitamin B6 and chamomile to “help improve sleep, rest and proper functioning of the nervous system.” And it is that, as they explain from the brand to the effect of melatonin, it is also added that “vitamin B6 contributes to the normal functioning of the nervous system”. 21.25 euros.

This liquid format is very comfortable to use, since we only have to take a pipette (the 0.5 ml marked) before going to sleep and that’s it. This one from Marnys, with orange flavor, contains pure liposome melatonin and is very good value for money: it costs 8.95 euros.

This option is fine if we want to take other active ingredients in addition to melatonin, such as with Night Collagen Active from Eiralabs, a supplement containing both melatonin and vitamin C (which enhances the antioxidant effect of melatonin) and magnesium (which helps reduce muscle fatigue). 43 euros.

Finally we have the most traditional format: capsules. We take one before going to bed and that’s it. These from Nature cost 19.99 euros.