Melatonin for Jet Lag and Blood Thinning Agents

Jet lag can leave you feeling tired, irritable, restless, and is an unfortunate effect of travelling across time zones. Needless to say, when you’ve prepared for a well-deserved holiday or a much needed business trip, spending your first few days at your destination feeling poorly is not ideal. Fortunately melatonin has emerged as a viable method of entraining or adjusting your biological clock, the disruption of which causes jet lag. Unfortunately melatonin is not the solution for everyone, and there are people who fall into certain categories who are, for medical reasons, advised to avoid the therapy.

In this article we look at why people making use of warfarin or other blood thinning agents are contraindicated when it comes to using melatonin for jet lag.


Warfarin and blood thinning agents

Warfarin is possibly the most widely known member of a group of drugs that act as blood thinning agents. It may sound ill-advised to use a medication to thin our blood, however this class of drug is extremely beneficial when it comes to treating a range of different conditions.

There are certain times when the body is susceptible to blockages which can be caused by the unwanted clotting of blood. Clotting is a process which is usually reserved for wound healing, and involves the thickening of blood to prevent excessive bleeding. Unfortunately in these instances, clotting can cause a blockage in a blood vessel which can impair the supply of much needed oxygen and nutrition to vital parts of the body. These events can cause strokes or heart attacks, and to avoid unwanted clotting, blood thinning agents are employed.

Blood thinning agents and melatonin

Melatonin is contraindicated for people using blood thinning agents like warfarin because the use of the two drugs can increase the risk of bleeding. An unfortunate consequence of the use of blood thinners is that because they inhibit the clotting response, users are vulnerable to bleeding more than usual.  Therefore minor injuries that would otherwise not be any cause for concern can bleed excessively.

Because of the risks this can pose, you will be advised against the use of melatonin for jet lag. Fortunately there are alternative methods you can employ to smoothen your body’s transition from one time zone to another, and these can be simple steps like making sure you are adequately rested before you travel and so on.

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