Blood pressure and melatonin

[Northswede]

Had to share and this seemed to be the right forum:

In spite of my healthy lifestyle - training, eating well, no smoking or drinking - I’ve had borderline high blood pressure (140/90) for the last four or five years.
My doctor wants to put me on medication but I’ve been reluctant.
There’s been no change in bp over the years and I’ve kind of settled and been thinking perhaps it’s not so high after all.

Then my wife got some melatonin for sleep and even though my sleep is fine, I tried one 5 mg pill for some reason.
I slept even better, woke up and felt great, rested and clear.
So I continued.

Now, I monitor my bp about once a month and the first time I did, about two weeks after I started to take melatonin, I had 129//80. Two weeks later I had 107/66!!
Numbers I haven’t seen since my twenties.

Besides the melatonin I haven’t made any changes.
I would take it for the sleep quality alone but I must say it’s a great ”side effect”.

I don’t know if the effect persists, but since it’s a pretty harmless supplement (hopefully) I had to tip the elderly lifting population of SS.

And yeah, supersleep and the bp of a teenager has had a great impact on my lifting.

53 yo
6’2
215
Intermediate/advanced

[IronMike]

Interesting. I use melatonin occasionally, maybe 2-3 times a month. I'll have to use it the night before my next physical!

[Marenghi]

Good catch, Northswede!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3180511/

[Northswede]

Great! Not just placebo then.
Don’t know if my melatonin is time released or not.

From what I’ve read about melatonin the effect differs from individual to individual when it comes to sleep. Probably the same with bp.
But I have a hunch, Ironmike, that you perhaps should take it every night for some time before the next physical.

[jfsully]

Unless you bought the most expensive melatonin on the shelf, it probably is not extended-release, and that study only showed a difference with the extended-release melatonin.

It also, however, only measured nocturnal BP, which is not what you’re interested in.

I doubt that melatonin of any kind would help with daytime blood pressure, EXCEPT if it helps with sleep. Getting regular, good quality, and sufficient sleep is the best medicine for a whole host of things, including hypertension.

I think extended-release melatonin is probably a waste of money compared to “regular” melatonin, and don’t recommend it for a number of reasons.

Plain old melatonin is cheaper, and is the gentlest safest sleep aid tablet you can buy that actually works for many people.

So it’s probably the sleep that is helping your BP, not the melatonin itself. If you sleep fine without the melatonin at some point, you can probably stop it.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

[Northswede]

Yeah, well I didn’t try to sell The Cure for hypertension, just report something extraordinary that happened to me which mayve could be useful for someone else.
Perhaps better sleep quality is the answer, perhaps some imbalance in me improved, I don’t know.
I just hope it keeps up and I do find it fucking interesting.
First in a looong line of supplements to do anything substantial for me.

[Northswede]

And I must stress this:
My sleep deprived wife hates me for my fall asleep in five minutes, nine hour nights PRIOR to melatonin.
According to her my snoring is the same with or without.
I just kept taking them for the peaceful feeling I got within 20 minutes and being sure at wakeup I had a truly restful night.
Perhaps I’m a super responder, which only would be fair since I’m a non responder to creatine.
Well, well... happy hunting and may the diastolic and the systolic be with you.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

I use melatonin, but only for sleep, where it seems to help. My blood pressure is already pristine.

[Marlin]

I use melatonin, but only for sleep, where it seems to help. My blood pressure is already pristine.

I'm on the heavy compound lifting equals pristine blood pressure side of the fence. 6'1/255lbs/59 yo... blood pressure 120/75... no medication.