Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The best sleep aid I've found, after trying a few different things. Long before I started having sleep problems recently, I've used the Tempur-Pedic sleep eye mask for 12 years, to block out all light when I sleep (highly recommend to add to your sleep regimen). I always wanted to make sure my sleep was the highest quality, with no light. So I was kind of surprised when I suddenly began having insomnia about 6 months ago - waking once or twice in the night, then waking at 4 a.m. "ready for the day." I'm a fan of supplements, but I've tried enough of them through the years to know I usually can't handle something strong. And of course I didn't want anything that could be addictive, because this was happening every single night, not just an "occasional" sleepless night. So I started with gentle herbal supplements and teas like chamomile, lavender, passion flower, and lemon balm. No valerian sleep aids for me, because I have a paradoxical reaction to it (instead of calming me, it gives me the opposite - anxiety and racing heartbeat). The herbs helped me relax but didn't help me sleep. I was hesitant to try melatonin because it's a hormone, and I've had my hormones messed up before, but I was desperate for sleep. I suspected the 3 mg and 5 mg doses on the market would be way too much. I started with a 1.5 mg supplement, which worked but I woke up groggy and nauseous. Too much. I tried a few lower dose options (not time released like this one), which helped me fall asleep and eliminated the first night wakings, but I still woke up at 4 a.m. on the dot and couldn't go back to sleep. Clearly I needed the melatonin to stay in my system longer, so it occurred to me to look for a time released option (which, oddly, didn't come up in my searches for melatonin until I searched specifically for time released). This looked like a good option. 1 tablet worked pretty well at keeping me asleep until about 5 a.m., which was an improvement, but it took longer for me to fall asleep in the first place because the small dose is distributed so slowly. 2 tablets are PERFECT for me at 600 mcg (equivalent to 0.6 mg, just over half a milligram, distributed evenly throughout the night). I had the most glorious night of sleep I've had in 6 months. I like this Life Extension one because it's such a tiny dose, I don't have to cut it and I was able to double up easily, without going over 1 mg. If you needed 3 tablets, it would still be less than 1 mg. With such a small dose, you can make these fine-tune adjustments. Hormones are very powerful and delicate like that. There's no reason to go overboard with them. I definitely recommend this. UPDATE: I do wish this was an 8 hour time release instead of 6. I sleep great through the 6 hours, but I'm wide awake as soon as it wears off. All the current research says adults need 8 hours of sleep for optimal health. I get by, but I NEED another two hours of sleep each night.