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Today’s question has to do with covet and an over-the-counter pill you may be taking right now that’s called karen who is in new york come on come here come on now you can do it that’s who we’re gonna catch her there she is how are you karen so what’s your question my question is i’ve been taking melatonin because i’m really worried about cloven 19 and i heard that
It can um help prevent me from getting colded this is my bottle right here is there any truth to this well how often are you taking melatonin i take it every night and i gather you probably started taking it for sleep but let me walk you through this a little bit you might find this interesting okay am i right is that why you were taking it for sleep originally
Or did you start taking it for covid no no no i started taking it for covid but it does help me fall asleep i fall asleep in like 20 minutes good all right well it does have that benefit which is why it was originally discussed all right there’s been lots of headlines about melatonin and coronavirus let me walk you through karen everybody else what’s this what’s
The the news here so there was a study that looked at over 26 000 people who have been tested for corotovirus and when researchers dig into the numbers they look around how much which are for example of melatonin you’re taking and people who are taking melatonin we’re almost 30 percent less likely to test positive that’s a stunning difference that doesn’t mean
It caused it it just you know people took melatonin maybe they were sleeping as well but whatever the reason is people who took melatonin had a lot less cove but now getting more sleep can boost your immune system that’s one reason it might work the studies show that melatonin can improve your sleep so that’s what could be one of the reasons that you for example
Getting to sleep 20 minutes or in 20 minutes whereas would have taken you longer that maybe one of the reasons melatonin protects you from coronavirus we got to do more research other potential ideas it’s an interesting connection to a popular over-the-counter pill so now that i know you’re sleeping better the question is your body naturally makes melatonin
How much should you be taking right it’s a hormone and it controls your circadian rhythm what time of the day you think it is but things like stress can mess up your melatonin and a lot of people have been taking it since the pandemics start in fact melatonin sales are up 43 but the reason enough so much is not just because people are taking it they’re taking a
Lot of it so do you remember the dose that you’re taking is it on the bottle you just showed me yeah it’s six milligrams six milligrams all right well the standard range is one to ten milligrams so it’s in that space but the dosage can be tricky i have a personal bias about this that i’ve acquired after studying this pretty carefully so i get a little demo let me
Bring that in you have a little glass of water here you grab it if you don’t mind i’m going to show this to you okay so i got a glass of water here too and i’ve got a a a much just a demonstration of what happens when you take too much melatonin so this liquid that i’ve got that you that glass you’ve got that represents your body and i’ve got a little tablet here i
Don’t know if you have one as well my team may have sent you one they do right grab that tablet right and this tablet represents your melatonin now when i drop the tablet in here you get a little bit of fizziness just what your body wants just a little nudge to get you to bed a little bit earlier you see it there that’s exactly what you want now that’s perfect take
The right amount of melatonin or if your body makes it naturally which it does when it sees for example the sunset you make a little melatonin everyone’s happy i see you’re happy as well your glasses happy my body my glasses happy now you got other tablets we sent you as well i’m gonna do the same thing here dump them all in there if you take too much melatonin
Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing so now you’ve got over reaction of the body too much stimulation and you can mess your sleep patterns up you can wake up in the middle of the night i mean you’re bubbling your cup runneth over right witness exactly what happens it messes everything up in fact it makes a mess period headaches nausea dizziness
Irritability stuff you don’t want the dreaded melatonin hangover where it literally spills over which you don’t want to have happen right then you groggy the next day so the best way to do this i think is take a low dose less than half of what you’re taking you want between one and three milligrams of melatonin and when you’re looking for melatonin practice is
Important look for just melatonin all those other ingredients in there like the magnesium valerium root they can affect the accuracy of the dosage and the labeling so just get melatonin nothing else and take just the smallest amount you can to get the sleep that you desire maybe get some protection from cobit okay all right thank you you’re welcome for help well
I’m glad you came by and i let you get back to work now i appreciate you joining me all right thanks bye bye sleep well karen
Transcribed from video
Can Melatonin Really Help Protect You From Coronavirus? By DoctorOz