The Story:
A recent paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr. Jingen Li as lead author, suggests that adults in the United States are over-using melatonin preparations in search of a better night’s rest.
Significance:
Melatonin is a hormone primarily released by the pineal gland, which is integral to the sleep-wake cycle. It was discovered in 1958 and has become a common over-the-counter dietary supplement.
The new paper is a look at data from ten cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) covering the years 1999 to 2018. the data involved 55,021 adults, with a 52/48 split of women to men, and a mean age of 47.5 years.
The paper reveals a marked increase in melatonin use beginning around 2009. This has accompanied shifts in life-cycle: people work more variable shifts than they used to, for example, which leads to more self-medication of one’s sleep.
