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Melatonin for jet lag - how to take it
After reading in your column that melatonin is good for jet-lag I asked a friend to bring me some from America. I plan to use it to survive a transatlantic flight to San Francisco but am not sure how much to take or when to start?
Melatonin is the hormone that controls our biological clock. It is naturally produced by the pineal gland in the brain and while children produce an abundance, at puberty, levels begin to drop off.
Although it has become best-known as an anti-jet lag agent - clinical trials show how frequent fliers recover more quickly from long haul flights - melatonin is, in fact, one of the most powerful antioxidants ever discovered and so my prediction is that to future generations, it will be better known as an important anti-ageing nutrient.
The temptation to combat jet-lag will be to start taking your supplement several days before you travel. In fact, this is the worse thing you can do. In one trial which set out to investigate how best to use melatonin and in what dosages, researchers found those who recovered most quickly from jet lag were those passengers who had not taken their melatonin until they had entered a new time zone.
No toxic levels have been reported but the usual dosage is 5mg of melatonin, which you take on the very first evening at the new destination. Continue this dosage for five days.