Are you having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night? The effects of insomnia may vary from person to person suffering from this condition. For some, it could be an inconvenience, but for others, it can have a major impact on their lives.

Every single person, regardless of age, gender, or race need quality sleep for the body to function optimally and to stay healthy by decreasing the risk of developing illnesses. Having trouble falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night despite being able to fall back to sleep or waking up too early, even before the alarm goes off, and being unable to fall back to sleep can leave one feeling tired, unwell, sluggish, or sleeping during the day.

Insomnia sufferers experience poor memory, slow responses to stimuli, brain fog, confusion, difficulty concentrating, mood alterations, anxiety, depression, and decreased productivity in school, work, or other activities.

In 2025, Adam V. Benjafield and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review-based analysis of 1,562 potential records and 18 studies with 262,582 participants to estimate the global prevalence and burden of insomnia. Approximately 852,325,091 adults were estimated to have insomnia. The number is tantamount to 16.2 percent global prevalence. As if the number wasn’t big enough, the problem gets bigger as 414,967,941 individuals have severe insomnia. That is around 7.9 percent global prevalence. Furthermore, their research revealed that insomnia and severe insomnia were more prevalent among the female population across all age groups.

Perhaps you belong to this significant number of people suffering from insomnia or worse, severe insomnia. You may have experienced taking melatonin supplements that may have worked initially, but have now failed to put you to sleep or give you that much-needed, sustained, good-quality sleep. What went wrong?

Synthetic melatonin found in melatonin supplements will help with short-term sleep issues, such as when you need to get back on your sleep schedule while recovering from time zone differences post-travel or jet lag, or when you schedule changes from night to day shift or vice versa. Melatonin supplementation, however, is not made for long-term use. Neither is this cut out for chronic insomnia treatment. Melatonin supplements are not sleeping pills or medications that knock you out. These are synthetic hormones that are supposed to help regulate the circadian rhythm or your sleep-wake cycle on short term basis.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends strategically timed melatonin treatment for some issues related to sleep timing, like jet lag or shift work disorder, but their published practice guidelines advise clinicians against using melatonin in adults to treat chronic insomnia.

According to Dr. Jennifer Martin, in February 2021, a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine board of directors, a professor of medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, and a clinical psychologist, “Melatonin isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to nightly sleep trouble. People who have difficulty sleeping should try making changes in their bedtime routine and environment first, and if that doesn’t help, or their insomnia becomes chronic, they should work with their medical provider to find the best treatment option.”

In addition, Dr. Jennifer warned: “Another limitation of melatonin is that over-the-counter supplements aren’t regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, there’s no way to be sure how much melatonin is in the supplement, unless the product label has the USP Verified mark, which indicates that the formulation meets the requirements of the US Pharmacopeial Convention.”

The side effects of melatonin supplementation are headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness during daytime, vivid dreams, nightmares, mood alterations, stomach upset, changes in bowel movements, loss of appetite, urinary incontinence, risk for falls and injuries, seizures, confusion, reduced alertness, and can interfere with some medications such as blood thinners; birth control; seizure, diabetes, and hypertension medications; immunosuppressants; and other medications that are metabolized by the liver.

Since your melatonin supplements didn’t do the trick, here are natural ways to get better sleep.

First, nourish your gut microbiome with a variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. The fiber and plant chemicals from these plant food sources will feed the beneficial bacteria in your intestines. Specific microorganisms play a huge role in helping the body produce the sleep hormone melatonin.

It is also important to increase your intake of tryptophan-rich food from plant food sources like bananas, soy, mushrooms, broccoli, peas, oats, and leafy greens like our local and readily available malunggay, kangkong, and pechay. Tryptophan is needed for the production of melatonin.

Second, be physically active throughout the day. One of the reasons why we can’t sleep is that the body is not tired enough. Your brain may be exhausted, but your body also needs to expend energy throughout the day. Exercising during the daytime or at least three hours before bedtime will do wonders for sleep regulation. We are all busy, but we can try to be more intentional in taking 10- to 15-minute walking cycles at least two to three times a day, and schedule at least two hours of strength and conditioning training a week. Whatever works for you, as long as you get moving.

“Training during the day will improve sleep by stabilizing the nervous system and by reducing stress,” explains strength and conditioning coach Royan Hernandez. “This will help your body fall asleep naturally by creating a healthy physical fatigue that will, in turn, improve sleep depth and better recovery without relying on supplements.”

Exercise also helps in the production of the mood-stabilizing hormone, serotonin, which is a precursor for the sleep hormone, melatonin.

Instead of relying on pills to put you to sleep, try to be mindful of your nutritional intake and be more physically active. These two will surely make a significant impact on your sleep.