Need a Sleep Study? Try the Melatonin Test
 Melatonin is the most important hormone for sleep onset and sleep quality.
 Salivary Melatonin Testing has been used since the 1990’s.Â
 Low Melatonin at Night or High Melatonin in the AM can cause fatigue. Â
Melatonin? It IS Rocket Science
Salivary Melatonin testing was first used by NASA astronauts in the 1990’s
Melatonin Curves Determine Sleep Quality
Quality Sleep is the Most Important way to reverse stress and slow down aging.
We Never Use Prescription Sleeping Pills
Fixing the Melatonin Curve is Bio-Identical Sleep Managment. Sleeping Pills are Never Bio-Identical.
Sleep/Melatonin Video Library
Produced by New Image
Medical Director Gregory Zengo, MD
Athens, Georgia Hormone/Stress Sleep Management Physicians
Have you ever taken a sleep study test? How in the world are they going to judge how well you sleep at home when they put you in a crappy bed in a hospital with a bunch of noise and monitors around you? Of course you are going to fail. And that then feeds the multi-million dollar sleep study industry billing insurance for drugs and CPAP machines.
Melatonin is a hormone made deep in the brain in response to darkness. It is responsible for helping us fall asleep, stay asleep, and spend the optimal amount of time in the most beneficial Stage 4 and REM deep sleep zones.
New Image understands that quality sleep is the secret to managing stress which, in turn, manages your stress and age-related symptoms. Daytime stimulants and nighttime drugs do not address the root cause of the problem at all. In addition to the Salivary Cortisol curve, Salivary Melatonin curves can help determine if stress is contributing to a melatonin deficiency at night or melatonin excess during the daytime.
Sleep disturbances are rarely fully cured with pharmaceuticals as many people continue to have lingering effects of the
metabolites that can persist into the next day, causing drowsiness even after what seemed to be a good, but drug-assisted night of sleep. We never use prescription sleeping pills, instead looking for stress-induced deficiencies in the major sleep-promoting hormones like melatonin, but also the HPA axis body clock and even important sex steroid hormones that can be suppressed in stress or during the menopause.
If you have never had your melatonin curve tested, you owe it to yourself to spit a little now, so you can sleep a lot better later.
Frequently Asked Questions about Melatonin and Sleep Stress Testing
I take 5mg Melatonin every night to sleep. Do I need a test?
You definitely should be tested.
Not everyone needs supplemental melatonin every night. 5mg is also a pretty high dose, so a salivary melatonin test will show you how much you really need and if any of that melatonin is making you drowsy the next day.
Moreover, if you are swallowing your melatonin, this test can tell you if any of it is even getting absorbed.
What else affects sleep other than melatonin?
It is rare that a melatonin test is the only test you will need if you have sleep issues.
Checking female hormones, especially progesterone, and a 4-point salivary adrenal curve are essential to see how well the body prepares for sleep and if proper melatonin expression is suppressed due to stress. Other factors behind sleep include caffeine and a genomic profile can help identify if you are a poor metabolizer of caffeine. Diet and hydration also play a role. Even a few excess pounds can contribute to obstructive sleep apnea which can interrupt sleep and increase fatigue during the daytime.
Trust your InnovativeMD physicians to find every stress input to poor sleep and help you eliminate the reversible stressors that caused your sleep to decline in the first place.
What Bio-Identical Treatments for Sleep are Available?
Right now, there are no prescription bio-identical treatments for sleep problems.
In fact, melatonin is the only potentially bio-identical treatable cause of poor sleep, which is why the testing is so important.
There are other bio-identical hormones and nutrients which affect body clock, drowsiness, and sleep which we will recommend if needed. But be aware that herbals like valerian root are NOT bio-identical and can have very unpredictable results.