Melatonin is a prescription medicine in New Zealand, but our Pharmacists at CookStPharmacy can supply to you.  We do need you to come in for a consultation to check it's appropriate for you.  The whole process takes about 15 minutes.

How does Melatonin work?

Melatonin production in the body is stimulated by low light conditions.  Melatonin is present in very low levels during the daytime, and production increases as bedtime approaches and peaks in the middle of the sleep cycle.

Melatonin does more than signal the body to prepare for sleep.  It also appears to help protect against oxidative stress, and radiation damage, as well as influencing several other important body systems.

You can get melatonin in your diet.  Many common foods contain varying amounts of melatonin, unfortunately about 80% of an oral dose of melatonin gets metabolised by the liver, and lost in urine.

Plant/food            Melatonin Content

 Tomato                             3–114 ng/g

Walnuts                          3–4 ng/g

       Cereals*                      300–1,000 pg

Strawberry                     1–11 ng/g

         Olive oil                        53–119 pg/ml

          Wine                          50–230 pg/ml

            Beer                        52–170 pg/ml

  Cow's milk**                3–25 pg/ml

* - Rice, Barley

** - Unprocessed

Some interesting articles

              http://www.journalsleep.org/Articles/290206.pdf

              http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-why-is-blue-light-before-bedtime-bad-for-sleep/

              http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22507555

              http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18643846

              http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

             http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00233/full