Melatonin is derived either chemically/synthetically, extracted from a plant, or extracted from the brain of an animal. Most melatonin you find in walmart etc, is a synthetic melatonin. Synthetic melatonin is not identical in molecular structure to natural melatonin. Some chemicals like this, can do more harm than good in the long term.<br /><br />Just because this product is natural does not mean it should be used indiscriminately. In parts of Europe melatonin is a controlled substance that cannot be obtained without a prescription. It does work, it is a hormonal drug, and it is powerful. Your body can become less sensitive to melatonin and it's own melatonin production can decline with long term use over 2 months. Therefore it should be used with some discretion. Your body can also increase its sensitivity over time to melatonin and regain it's own production if supplementation is paused. How long that takes will depend on the person.<br /><br />Melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the pineal gland in mammals, which chemically interacts with your brain to help induce sleep. Melatonin levels with most people elevate when their eyes are exposed to darkness, increasing as their length of time in darkness increases.<br /><br />Some people, such as those diagnosed with ADD, or depression, or a SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) , may have impaired uptake of melatonin, or their brains are not as efficient at using it, so a boost can be useful, especially in today's world where people keep lights on until 11pm.<br /><br />I have taken Dramamine, and Tylenol PM, and generic sleep pills in the past to go to sleep while people upstairs were being noisy even with my ear plugs in. The problem with those is they loose effectiveness overtime, and you can form a dependance on them. Since Dramamine is an antihistamine it drys out my sinus cavity, also it is not a very natural sleep, it knocks you out when you first use it, but like all antihistamines your body gets used to it over time and it looses its effect. Tylenol PM and sleep pills both knock you out in an unnatural sleep where when you wake up you are still dragging 3 hours later until you get some coffee in you. And then there is dependance.<br /><br />With Melatonin, you go to sleep in about 30 minutes after taking it, you might wake up a couple times through the night, but you will still be easily able to go back to sleep. And when you wake up, this is the best part, you really, really feel like you have a dang good sleep. If you are fully rested, melatonin will NOT keep you knocked out in a chemical stupor. You wake up like you never took anything. So if you are expecting this to force you to sleep in the middle of the day, it probably wont work. Also if you expose your eyes to light, you reduce your levels of melatonin, it would be like taking sleeping pills while drinking coffee.<br /><br />Melatonin put me to sleep fast, it is a drug, and it does work, and there is tons of medical research to back it up. It is after all what your own brain already uses to facilitate sleep. It is non-habit forming, and does not loose effectiveness overtime. So basically it's the best thing to put yourself to sleep since it is what our bodies naturally evolved to use for that exact purpose.<br /><br />It has the added benefit of being a potent antioxidant. Melatonin can cross the brain barrier to act on free radicals in your brain. Melatonin is a direct scavenger of OH, O2', and NO, which are basically oxidizers that can cause cellular damage and mutations. In some studies on mice melatonin increased their lives 20%.. and mice are not susceptible to the placebo effect.<br /><br />I trust the NOW brand. There are a lot of really cruddy brands out there that have lots of fillers in them, like Natures Way sold at walmart. I have seen products at walmart in the vitamin section that have bull-adrenaline and radioactive metals in them, seriously. With natural products you need to be careful about what brand you buy, because they are not regulated by the FDA. Since they fall in the natural food category, the FDA doesn't feel it needs to do any research, since there is no profit for drug companies on the line.<br /><br />I have bought many NOW-brand products in the past. They are all all-natural, they are all potent without any fillers, they all work, and they are all priced very fairly for the quality. NOW is a brand that is sold in natural health food stores all over North America, including Wild Oats, Sprouts, Nutters, and other well-known chains. And when getting a hormone based drug like Melatonin, for the difference of a couple bucks, I would not mess around.<br /><br />If you let the vegetarian gel capsule dissolve in your mouth, it has zero taste, so you can hold it under your tongue for a faster response time if desired.<br /><br />Hope this review helps

This is insane: I gulp a tablet down with a glass of water about an hour before I go to bed, and when fall asleep --which is almost instantly after I decide to do so-- I stay asleep for a full six to seven hours. After taking melatonin for a few days, I no longer feel like I need a 2:00 p.m. nap every day.<br /><br />Quick note: I've noticed that taking this with plenty of water somehow eases the process. Try to hit a magic spot where it's enough to wash it down but not enough to wake you up because you have to go pee. A full glass seems to do the trick.

This dosage caused a lot of problems for me as someone who’s never taken melatonin before. Firstly, it didn’t really make me tired... until morning, and then throughout the first half of the day when I felt a kind of “melatonin hangover” effect.<br /><br />After doing a bit of research it seems like there was a dosing study in 50 year old male insomniacs showing that 0.3mg (over 10x less) was better for causing sleep without causing hangover or other effects like anxiety and wakefulness. I also had insane nightmares which woke me up a lot.<br /><br />I’ve had much better results with the 1mg than the 5mg so far. It makes me tired and there’s much less hangover, but it seems like the nightmares are still there. Now moving on to the 0.3mg.<br /><br />Honestly if i could do it all over again I would have started with the low dose and gone up but when I initially searched this was what came up mostly.<br /><br />In a sense it’s not a fair review because maybe this dose is good for some people but it was not good for me at this dosage and the pills are not cuttable. Luckily this stuff is crazy cheap.

I was extremely skeptical about this product when I first ordered it. I was one of those people who thought that the only effective medicines came from behind the prescription counter and with a doctor's orders. And that's how I ended up with a quasi-addiction to Ambien.<br /><br />When I realized that taking Ambien every night was eroding my daytime memory and having other adverse effects, I realized that I needed to quit taking it. I tried going cold turkey but couldn't sleep at all and was miserable for a week. I ordered this product in desperation, sure that it wouldn't do anything for me. But to my amazement, it helped fill the void left by Ambien without any of the nasty side effects.<br /><br />Of course this isn't as effective as a prescription drug like Ambien or Lunesta, but it actually does help you fall asleep in a noticeable way. And best of all, it doesn't have any of the horrible side effects of prescription sleep aids. I highly recommend this product to anybody who is looking for an alternative to RX sleeping pills or who needs help tapering off their prescription.

I've been using it for almost a year and it's been working. In combination with [[ASIN:B00GCRXGTM Serenity Natural Sleep Aid]] my sleep has improved quite a bit. Melatonin alone gave me good improvement and then both together got my sleep patterns back in check. Falling asleep faster and staying asleep through the night!

I have struggled with my ability to get a sound night's sleep for quite some time. I'm strongly opposed to prescription sleep aids so I decided to take the more natural route and sought out melatonin. The NOW brand is something I was familiar with from other supplements and it seemed reasonably priced so I ran with it. It took a little bit to get used to but it seems to work well. I've been in a routine for awhile now.<br /><br />I've found even better results pairing melatonin with a sleep aid supplement- [[ASIN:B00CBF35HC Sleep Aid RX Maximum Strength Capsules + FREE Melatonin 5 mg - 180 Capsules]]. I'm asleep with more haste (as little as 20 minutes versus as long as 1 hour) and I'm very well rested come morning. I haven't experienced any fatigue or bad side effects. It's a double whammy of sleeping power!