https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVbiJUv2OM
For this assignment, I selected Sleeping Aids, specifically melatonin, as my drug to analyze. Melatonin is a drug that I personally use quite frequently. I discovered it in high school, and thought it was great because I had a hard time falling asleep at night. After using it for several months I began to become concerned, I started needing it to fall asleep. Now I try to take it only when I really need to, generally if I’m feeling stressed or anxious about something, and my thoughts are keeping me awake. Or just if I really need to get a lot sleep that night and I want to fall asleep fast. So probably one or two nights out of every week. I chose this commercial because I thought it showed melatonin in a very positive light. The comparison of the woman taking melatonin falling asleep super fast and waking up feeling refreshed and happy, to the man lying awake next to her struggling to wake up the next morning and feeling extremely tired. This just showed how companies will try to make it look like their products will make your life one thousand times better.
Natrol Melatonin in their commercial claims to be the “number one brand of melatonin” on the market. From their website they make it easy for you to find the ingredients and actually take the time to explain the benefit of each one and why it’s in the product. I found this to be very nice and helpful, it did make me feel more trusting of this specific brand of Melatonin which I think was the goal of the company. Also on their website they have information about many different subjects relating to sleep, such as the sleep cycles, and how to use melatonin responsibly. In my opinion this was above and beyond what I would’ve expected a company to do for their product. I couldn’t find any negative aspects or scandals related to this company, I believe they are very trustworthy.
On Natrol’s About us page is states that “For over 35 years, Natrol has been a leading manufacturer of Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements and is dedicated to empowering consumers to “Own Your Health” with the help of our top-selling products, Melatonin, 5-HTP and Biotin. At the core of Natrol’s success is our unwavering focus on five strategic principles — Quality, People, Innovation, Customer Service, and Cost Effectiveness”. They also state that “We define quality as delivering safe, effective, and trustworthy products that meet consumers’ expectations every time. Our quality assurance program is extensive and industry leading. We perform rigorous quality checks throughout our process from exhaustive supplier qualification screening to the sourcing of the best ingredients. We have consistently achieved the highest “A” rating from the Natural Products Association.”
I found this commercial on youtube, but it was originally played on television. From the age of the actors in the commercial, it looks to me that this product was being marketed to an older crowd. Anywhere from college students struggling to get enough sleep, to parents or the elderly. The commercials punch line is “own your sleep” meaning that people can take control and get the sleep they need through this product. One line from the commercial that I thought was interesting was that they claimed that this is the “one hundred percent number one drug free way to get healthier sleep”. It’s odd to me that they would use the language “drug free” when advertizing this sleeping aid. I think the reasoning behind this is that they want to appear as natural as possible, they heavily stress in the commercial that melatonin is non habit forming. They want to make people believe that taking melatonin is completely natural and healthy for you, so they must be targeting people who are health conscious. By exaggerating the benefits of taking melatonin the commercial also targets anyone who could be suffering from sleep problems. Natrol has a great marketing campaign that will spark the interests of many people who are concerned they might not be getting enough sleep. Making the product look natural, easy and effective will not stir up any concerns an individual might have, I also noticed that they didn’t list any negative side effects Melatonin might have at the end of the commercial. Not listing negative side effects of a product make it seem like there are no downsides of the product, which in my opinion is very deceptive of them.
On the Natrol website they have a Products by Ingredient list. Under the Advanced Sleep Melatonin they list the active ingredients, their dosage, and what percent that is of your daily value. Natrol describes their product as “Advanced Sleep Melatonin is a 2-layer controlled release tablet that releases and an initial 5mg dosage to help you fall asleep fast, and then releases the remaining 5mg over time to help you stay asleep through the night.” The active ingredients are:
1) Melatonin, 10 mg, *(daily percentage not available), “a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that inhibits melanin formation and is thought to be concerned with regulating the reproductive cycle.”
2) Vitamin B6, 10 mg, 500% daily value, (A number of vitamins serve as coenzymes, substances that enhance the action of enzymes and thereby aid in catalyzing biochemical reactions.) The vitamin B6 group is especially important to the function of the central nervous system, skin, and blood.”
3) Calcium, 23 mg, 2% daily value, ”the most plentiful mineral found in the human body. The teeth and bones contain the most calcium. Nerve cells, body tissues, blood, and other body fluids contain the rest of the calcium.”
The inactive ingredients listed were “Cellulose, Dibasic Calcium Phosphate, Hypromellose, Magnesium Stearate, Stearic Acid, Silica, Methylcellulose, Glycerin.”
One thing I did not know was that Vitamin B6 actually enhances the effect of other drugs, this was surprising for me to find out. Also that we have so much of it just in a single serving of this product, why did they need to put in that much of it? What will happen from long term use of this product? Besides my initial concern over the B6 vitamin, I’m not concerned about any of the other active drugs. Your body can definitely because dependant on melatonin, because it will stop producing it on its own. After long term use you will probably have a hard time falling asleep without it. If taken properly and as directed then I don’t see a need to be concerned over Melatonin. Its when people don’t follow the directions that you can see the problems forming from it. That is their risk though, and even if they don’t follow the directions nothing crazy bad will happen to them.
In my opinion yes Melatonin from Natrol is safe to use, and yes I would recommend it to a friend or family member. As long as they are following the proper usage directions then they shouldn’t be negatively affected by melatonin in any way. I was especially impressed by Natrol’s superior quality testing, they are clearly devoted to keeping their quality of product high and their customers happy. With other brands of melatonin I would still think it’s fine for my loved ones to take them, but I would hope that they were taking a quality equally as high. From my research I feel confident recommending this to any young adult and up. I wouldn’t recommend this product to children. Just because taking something that your body naturally produces that young could eventually lead to them having troubles producing it themselves.
Works Cited
Melatonin. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2017, from https://www.natrol.com/ingredients/melatonin/
Melatonin: How It Affects Sleep – Watch WebMD Video. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2017, from https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/video/melatonin-sleep
What Is Melatonin? (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2017, from https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/what-is-melatonin