Word: melatonin
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...combat wakefulness, Americans filled more than 50 million prescriptions in 2008 for sleeping pills like Ambien and spent more than $600 million on over-the-counter sleep-inducing supplements such as melatonin and valerian root. Others seek medical treatment or psychological therapy to get to sleep, while the rest of us accept our nocturnal tossing and turning as just another of life's unavoidable nuisances and gulp an extra cup of coffee the next morning to compensate. (See the Year in Health, from...
...Drank's ingredients could stir an even bigger controversy. Melatonin, valerian root and rose hips give Drank its calming effect. Melatonin is a hormone that is sometimes used to treat insomnia and jet lag. A medicinal herb, valerian root relaxes the central nervous system and can quell anxiety. The rose hips provide antioxidants. But do I really want to buy a pharmacological mix at 7-Eleven? Is it safe to drink this cocktail over the counter? "I would not recommend it," says David DiPersio, clinical pharmacist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "Valerian roots and rose hips are not really...
...Bianchi notes that melatonin, valerian root and rose hips are all on the FDA's list "Generally Regarded As Safe," or GRAS, right alongside sugar and salt. "Anything to excess is going to be bad for you," Bianchi says. "I can sleep at night with confidence that our consumers can enjoy and be fine with the product." The CEO says no one has complained of Drank side effects. For DiPersio, however, GRAS isn't good enough. "Just because something is on the GRAS list doesn't mean the product is definitely safe," he says. "You don't know the source...
...Pill. An experimental drug, tasimelteon, has been successful in helping people reset their body clocks and beat jet lag, in clinical trials. The drug hasn't been federally approved yet, but you may find similar benefits in taking melatonin - tasimelteon mimics that naturally occurring hormone...
...Melatonin, as well as its analogs, have the added advantage of being less addictive and safer than other sleep-inducing medications. (The current study reported no immediate adverse effects of tasimelteon, though participants were not examined the following day.) In recent years, the popular prescription sleep aid Ambien, for example, has been linked to a range of bizarre sleepwalking incidents, including air rage. In a high-profile case in London in 2002, REM guitarist Peter Buck was cleared of assault and drunkenness charges stemming from his destructive rampage aboard a British Airways flight, after successfully claiming that his Ambien pill...