High-Tech Melatonin Product Promotes Better Sleep

For some people, melatonin doesn’t help with their insomnia, even though it is an oft-hyped, natural (and legal) solution.

But many complain it takes too many melatonin pills to actually fall asleep, often waking up only a few hours later in a state of extreme grogginess.

Now, scientists have formulated a new way to release melatonin that solves these problems. It’s so high-tech, it’s patented. “The scientifically advanced, patented formulation, called Ion Powered Pump technology, replicates the way in which the body naturally releases and absorbs melatonin, unlike conventional melatonin sleep products,” the company explains in a press release.

And it doesn’t come with the problems that pharmaceutical drugs that may help you fall asleep fast come up with either.

“Since REMfresh is not a drug, there is no drug hangover.”

‘Release-Controlling Matrix’ Is Key to Optimum Melatonin Delivery

The technology was presented this week at the annual joint meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC. Those include the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

“Designed as a hydrogel matrix tablet, REMfresh (CRA-melatonin) provides rapid release of the melatonin from the surface of the tablet, as the hydrogel release-controlling matrix is setting up in the acidic environment (pH of 1 to 3.5) in the stomach,” the company explains in a press release.

In their research presented at the sleep convention, called REMAKT or REM Absorption Kinetics Trial, trial volunteers slept for a continuous seven hours — at least twice as long as can be the case with the conventional melatonin currently available.

The research was a randomized placebo trial involving about 600 people. The research is set to be published in the journal Sleep and premiered among the abstract posters at the conference.

We Lose Sleep as We Age

There is no denying the importance of a good night’s sleep. Research emerges every single day regarding the detriments of a lack of sleep, from death by heart disease to the exacerbation of mental illness.

As many as 70 million of us — nearly a quarter of the nation’s population — suffer from an inability to fall asleep, research suggests.

Melatonin levels start dropping after age 40. “Melatonin levels decline with age, an important factor in poor quality sleep among older people. In addition to difficulty falling asleep, sleep in older populations is characterized by increased fragmentation of the sleep architecture and sleep maintenance problems,” the REMAKT researchers explain in their abstract.

Related: Chronic Lack of Sleep May Increase Alzheimer’s Risk