Meeting MelatoninHere are a few brief notes about my experiences with exogonous melatonin - henceforth referred to as "M".I decided to explore the effects of M after becoming interested in interventions that potentially increased the lifespan of organisms - and after being recommended to try it by a like-minded friend.
A powerful drugI took tiny doses (often smaller than 0.1mg) - and was very impressed by their strength.I found M to be a potent intoxicant, with a rapid action and a relatively long-lived effect. The first few times I consumed M I experienced some disorientation and confusion - and had some difficulty in going to sleep. However, the effects were interesting enough for me to persist with my usage for a while - and after a few attempts I rapidly found that M tended to have the effect on me which it was widely reputed to have on others - i.e. it rapidly induced a deep sleep. Before inducing sleep M produced a pyschological effect which I found curious. The effect was a type of psychological opening. The feeling was as though some kind of door in my mind was being opened - while simultaneously my identity was being obliterated by sleep. I've since found that there's a kind of recreational drug culture associated with M use. M is billed as an agent which is responsible for opening the third eye. It is it produced by the pineal gland (a.k.a the third eye). Also it has the same indole ring as a number of psychedelic substances - notably the major halluciogens L.S.D. and Dimethyltryptamine. After hearing of this association from others, I rapidly adopted this "third eye" terminology - since it seemed to be such an appropriate description of M's effects.
Side effectsI found I was frequently still intoxicated by M the following morning. The effect wore off fairly rapidly after exposure to light - but was pronounced enough for me to be concerned about taking M with any regularity.I had found M a much more powerful experience than I had been expecting. I'm usually fairly cautious about messing with mind-altering drugs on a long term basis - so I discontinued its use after a fairly brief experimental period.
Learing how to sleepLooking back, I feel that using M taught me how to sleep better.It gave me a far better understanding of the importance of blacking out my sleeping environment. Also, I felt as though I had improved the ability to regulate my brain's own secretion of serotonin, via a kind of biofeedback.
HazzardsAs well as M's well documented benefits, there are some M hazzards, which it is advisable to be aware of.Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that use of M is relatively safe. Aside from the possibility of increasing the risk of some forms of cancer there are some other possible downsides to using M: M induces sleep. M users who are not asleep suffer from impaired performance on many common tasks. This is likely to translate into problems if the subject is woken up - or sleep suddenly seems less attractive. As well as reduced performance there is the possibility of direct physiological damage. M users show a marked aversion to bright lights - and with good reason, it seems - M has been shown to increase retinal photoreceptor susceptibility to light-induced damage [1] - a combination of M and bright lights looks like it has the potential to cause permanent retinal damage. M makes sleep more sound. This could cause problems for users with children that need night-time attention, and for users with increased risk of night-time hazzards - such as building fires. Also, the presence of endogenous night- time hazzards may result in increased difficulty in rousing the user - in patients with depressed breathing or nocturnal hypoglycemia, M could worsen the risk of the existing hazzard. Lastly, M usage by couples seems likely to decrease the frequency of late night sexual activity. By increasing the desire to sleep, sexual urges are temporarily down-regulated. This looks like it may be one of several of M's contraceptive effects.
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