Inexpensive melatonin supplements may fight DEPRESSION in children, study suggests

Cheap melatonin pills before bed may help fight depression in children, study suggests

Researchers in Sweden followed 25,500 children aged six to 18 who took one pill every night for about six months.

The risk of self-harm incidents halved in the year after starting the pill compared to the previous year.

Researchers suggested that the drop may have been caused by participants getting more sleep, which has mood-enhancing benefits. But the study was observational and could not prove that the pills were definitely behind the lower self-harm rates.

Melatonin is a hormone that is critical to the body’s sleep-wake cycle. The level rises in the evening when the sun sets, indicating that it is time to sleep, and drops to almost zero during the day.

Supplements of the hormone have been available over the counter in the US since the mid-1990s and are available at most pharmacies and health food stores for about 12 cents per pill.

It is estimated that more than four million American adults now use the supplements regularly, a fivefold increase from two decades ago.

This is despite some evidence that melatonin may cause cognitive problems with long-term use, although this is not conclusive evidence.

But in Sweden – where the research was conducted – melatonin supplements were only available over the counter in 2020.

Experts Warn America’s Use of Sleeping Pills ‘Spinning Out of Control’

Five times more American adults use melatonin today than they did two decades ago, according to a study.

For the study, the researchers combed the national database for children aged 6 to 18 who were given melatonin.

The adolescents included in the study were born between 1989 and 2008.

Among them, ADHD was the most common condition with 14,000 participants, followed by anxiety and depression with around 5,500 participants each.

In the study, each child took a melatonin pill at bedtime for about six months.

Boys were on average 13 years old when they received the prescription, while girls were 15 years old.

The recipe was received the most in November and the least in July and August – or during the summer holidays.

The researchers then tracked the number of recorded injuries in the group in the year before and the year after starting treatment.

Overall, they saw a 12 percent decrease in injuries.

There were 5,696 in the year before melatonin started, compared with 5,011 after, suggesting that melatonin helped participants struggle with depression or other medical conditions, they said.

Poisonings, including drugs and personal care products, saw the biggest decline, falling 21 percent from 778 to 615 events over the two years. This was driven by girls, with events falling by 23 percent. It was not clear whether these poisonings were intentional as they were not recorded.

This was followed by falls, which fell 15 percent from 1,970 to 1,669, and assaults, which fell from 4,585 to 4,056.

Researchers also conducted an injury risk analysis which showed that the risk of self-injurious events – such as poisoning – was halved.

The scientists suggested that melatonin may have helped the participants by improving their mood.

Lack of sleep is known to increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol and disrupt restful long-wave sleep, both of which cause mood to become negative.

It can also make a person more sensitive to pain by increasing activity in brain regions involved in pain interpretation – such as the somatosensory cortex at the top of the brain – and reducing it in areas that dull pain perception – such as the striatum and insula in the center of the organ.

Research also shows that lack of sleep can worsen symptoms such as impulsive behavior, inattention and hyperactivity in people with ADHD.

Dr. Sarah Bergen, a psychologist at Karolinska Institutet who led the research, said: “Our results support the hypothesis that sleep interventions can reduce self-harm in this population, particularly in girls.

“This suggests that melatonin may be responsible for the reduced rates of self-harm, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the use of other psychiatric drugs or psychotherapy may have influenced the results.”