Makers of melatonin supplements have 18 to 24 months to voluntarily add child-deterrent packaging and improve cautionary language on labels of over-the-counter products, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry.
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the brain in response to darkness. It regulates the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm. As a dietary supplement, melatonin is not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration, yet the demand for melatonin among both adults and children has skyrocketed over the last decade, according to experts.
The council’s action follows recent reports of a massive rise in accidental ingestions of melatonin by children and an April 2023 study that found 25 products labeled as melatonin gummies contained dangerous levels of the hormone. One over-the-counter product contained up to 347% more melatonin than listed on the label, while another contained no melatonin at all — it was entirely composed of cannabidiol or CBD.
My local radio station played a lot of ads for Z-quil for kids last year. I’ve stopped trying to rely on sleeping aids this past year, but i can only imagine a whole generation brought up using melatonin, white noise machines, or youtube sleeping videos are going to have massive problems getting a normal night’s sleep.
I’m fine with white noise, but melatonin is only for nights I can’t get to sleep normally. Maybe once every other month. And never for my kid. He’s gotta learn how to sleep without it so he knows when he needs it. Also he’s only 1.5.
I was out camping a couple years ago and a young couple set yp in the lot next to us. It sounded like they were running an air compressor all day, but it turned out they had white noise machine pumping full blast to keep their toddler asleep, otherwise he would be cranky and screaming. On the same trip, one of my friends drained our only portable battery to power his white noise machine while a light thunderstorm was going on. Even i have had trouble sleeping without a youtube playlist in the background for the past 6 years. We have a serious epidemic of sleep issues.
It’s funny camping is being brought up. If I’m camping more than two nights, my sleep schedule is at its healthiest. After a day of sunshine and activity, I’m usually ready for bed an hour or two after dark and up with the sun.
I think the issue is technology, scrolling on our phones right up until bedtime.
Add that to the epidemic of drug issues, behavioral issues, emotion regulation issues, interpersonal issues, dietary issues, etc etc etc. The younger generations are screwed the way I see it because access to treatment for these issues is only getting harder to come by and eventually will be inaccessible for many. And that’s not even considering all the other shit like climate change. This is why I think it’s amoral to thoughtlessly bring children into this fucked up world.
ETA: for context, speaking about my nieces and nephews who are younger than me and other friends and family and what I’ve seen online as well.
Wait till they get older and have to deal with sleep apnea on top of all that, complex apnea man here, it aint no joke. A lot of these people will not even assume they have apnea they’ll probably try to self medicate or tape their mouths shut or some other nonsense that will not work, in fact will make apnea worse. Imagine having central apnea where you brain just stops sending the signal to breathe and in order to start breathing again you need to at least partly wake up, but you have taken a massive amount of melatonin (or some other supplement or combination) to keep yourself asleep.
I use it daily but also must take a THC/CBD chocolate. I spent decades of insomnia and that combo is the only thing that has EVER allowed me to sleep in my lifetime.