Melatonin and Thyroid: What’s the Connection?

What is the connection between melatonin and your thyroid? Many people use melatonin to help their sleep, but what do we need to know about it and how it affects other parts of our body? In this article, I want to help paint a clearer picture of melatonin use.

In fact, melatonin is so relevant it helped inspire me to create a new product: Thyrotonin. Before I make the full introduction, though, let me talk about how thyroid hormones and melatonin work together – and how that might be influencing your overall health.

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Table of Contents

What is Melatonin?
How Does Melatonin Affect Thyroid Function?
What are the Long-Term Effects of Melatonin?
Remember This About Using Melatonin for Sleep

What is Melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone known as a peptide hormone (meaning it is a chain of amino acids). In general, hormones come in two large categories:

• Peptides
• Steroids

Peptides are amino acid chains, whereas steroids are modified versions of cholesterol. The general rule of thumb is that peptides come “from the wait up” ( the pancreas, thyroid, thalamus, pituitary, and the pineal gland).

The main role of melatonin is to start the whole sleep process. It does not preserve sleep throughout the night, but helps initiate the events that cause us to wind down and go to bed.

As such, we can begin to see a bit of a “see-saw relationship” between melatonin and cortisol. When we have a healthy daily circadian rhythm, cortisol is high in the morning and slows down throughout the day.

During the time that cortisol normally drops off in the afternoon and the evening, that allows melatonin to begin creeping up and hitting its ultimate nighttime levels. That timing is what ends up majorly influencing the timing of our sleep.

How Does Melatonin Affect Thyroid Function?

Melatonin itself has a positive effect on thyroid function. It also affects sleep, general health, and many other relevant symptoms. Interesting to note, though, is that there is popular usage of melatonin in higher dosages.

This comes from the fact that there are amounts of melatonin that our body makes, and amounts that we can absorb by way of supplements. It turns out that the higher amounts we can absorb, they can worsen elements of autoimmunity.

A large recent study showed exactly that. They found that common, over-the-counter doses of melatonin may worsen autoimmune responses (while worsening the internal quality of sleep)¹.

But, why would this happen? Why would the hormone that helps you sleep make you not sleep as well? It’s a bit of a tricky paradox.

This comes down to a lot of ways in which the body is not intuitive, but ends up making sense. Overall, the body is always expecting a certain amount of melatonin. That is controlled in terms of how much comes out in the bloodstream, and in how the cells respond to melatonin.

When we get huge amounts of melatonin, receptors in our body diminish and your cells are less able to absorb the amounts you might otherwise need. This is known as “receptor down-regulation.” It is one of the many ways that hormones do the opposite of what we otherwise need them to do (you can see an example of it in the image above)².

What are the Long-Term Effects of Melatonin?

What are the consequences of melatonin and long-term use? The first is that, when we become numb to melatonin, we don’t sleep as well as we used to. You can have a hard time getting to sleep, as well as staying asleep throughout the night.

We may also find ourselves suffering from what is known as dyssomnias. Dyssomnias include forms of:

• Nighttime insomnia
• Daytime sleepiness
• Exaggerated sleep requirements

That said, tiny amounts of melatonin in the form of supplements can be a good thing. They can improve sleep, regulate immunity, and reduce free radicals. However many of these benefits vanish when the dose becomes too high.

What are the Benefits of Melatonin?

Here’s something to keep in mind: We are increasingly finding that how much melatonin we make can be complemented by small amounts of it. We can get some of it from our diet, but we can also consume small amounts in supplementation.

It turns out that, when supplemented, if melatonin hits the bloodstream more quickly and in tiny amounts, it is useful and it causes us to make more melatonin on our own. It can serve as a trigger for our bodies to make more, not less, of it.

What Do We Mean by High Doses of Melatonin?

Let’s dive into dosages! This might be a bit jarring for some people, but when we talk about high dosages we are talking about doses in the range of one milligram or greater. For context, a milligram is the same as 1000 micrograms.

The most common potencies of melatonin that we see on the market right now are between five and 20 milligrams. Or, 5,000 to 20,000 micrograms.

While these things, at this high dosages, may work – they can cause you to fall asleep and fast – what happens is it increases a competition between companies to continuously up their available dosages. But, more is certainly not always better – in fact, it can be a lot worse.

This becomes even more pronounced as we age. Once we move past 40 years of age, all of the things I just mentioned are even more significant and pronounced.

Ultimately, somewhere between 100-200 micrograms (0.1-0.2 milligrams) seems to be the sweet spot for melatonin usage. That is a truly tiny amount that can make a huge difference.

Remember This About Using Melatonin for Sleep

If you remember only a few things from today’s article, I want you to remember that the most effective doses of melatonin appear to be 100-200 micrograms for adults.

While melatonin can work in the short term, it is not a safe or reliable option to ensure great quality sleep. In fact, it can have the opposite effect.

That’s because supplementing too much melatonin can take away your body’s own output. Your body becomes unable to make amounts it would otherwise be able to make on its own.

But, the issue has little to do with melatonin itself and everything to do with the dose. Small doses can not only help, but they can be incredibly safe or used long-term.

Introducing Thyrotonin

All of this discussion helped me envision and create a new product that I thought would help, and would also balance out a lot of the options currently available on the market.

I call it Thyrotonin. The thyroid makes melatonin, and those suffering with thyroid disease simply have different requirements to get the right amounts.

This is made in a 100 microgram capsule. The usage is 1-2 capsules, around 30 minutes before bed, on an empty stomach.

It’s that easy. It can be used on a regular basis, but few need it regularly. Between its effects and some sleep hygiene tips, you can get back to quality sleep in a hurry.

It is also helpful for those looking to reset their sleep schedule. If you are feeling jet lagged, you could consider taking three capsules, 30 minutes before sleep, again on an empty stomach.

Melatonin can help, and it can be done safely. I hope this helped answer some of your top questions, while also introducing you to a new way in Thyrotonin today.

P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:

1. Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
2. Need A Thyroid Supplement Recommendation? Take My Thyroid Specific Formulations Quiz Now
3. Need a Personalized Supplement? Check out My Thyroid Specific Formulations
4. Download and use my Favorite Recipes Cookbook Here
5. Check out my podcast Medical Myths, Legends, and Fairytales Here

Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a Naturopathic Endocrinologist and the author of The NY Times bestselling Adrenal Reset Diet, The Metabolism Reset Diet and The Thyroid Reset Diet.

Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what really works has helped hundreds of thousands of people reverse thyroid disease, lose weight, diabetes, and regain energy. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.