David Nash wrote in a message to Alex Vasauskas:
 DN> Hello! You seem to be a thinking person. Glad to have 'met' you...
Ah ... flattery ...  but, you are right ;-)  I'm pleased to meet you too.
 DN> Wish I could be as consise and intelligent as your postings seem to
 DN> be.
You can be me if you want to.  But, from what I have seen (as in your
post to Jane) you communicate well in your own voice and I like the
color.
 DN> Have you any thoughts about melatonin and valerian root? The
 DN> combination works quite well for me, the only side effect I noticed
 DN> I cured by  smaller doses!
When it comes to using chemicals, I like to know as much as I can
about the benefits and possible detriments.  I feel most comfortable
about using herbs that have a long record of use about which I can read.
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is a major herb (actually it is the
root and not the herb or leaf that is used) for relieving stress
on both the body and the mind.  When used for sleep, it seems to LET
rather than MAKE you sleep.  For example, it helps slow down thoughts
racing around in your head at bedtime when something important will be
happening the next day and you need to sleep to be rested.  (In
apparently about 20% of people it acts as a stimulant, and those
can use something else like scullcap (Scutellaria laterifolia) and/or
hops (Humulus lupulus).)  Valerian is often used along with scullcap and
hops as an herbal sleep aid formula -- a person might try the
these others or a combination if the de-stressing effect of valerian
alone isn't enough.
The use of valerian has a long history.  Valerian, in a related species
called "wild nard", was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans.  It was
apparently first referred to as "valerian" in the ninth century, and
first appeared by this name in records of Anglo-Saxon herbal medicine in
the 11th century.
Throughout all of this history, valerian appears to have the effect
of a tranquilizer that relieves mental stress and the effects of this
stress on the body, and, unlike modern manufactured chemicals,
strengthens the nervous system of those who use it to relieve this
stress.
Although herbals talk about taking this root as a tea, the only
pleasant way I know of to consume it is in a capsule.  Cats love
it.  Maybe there are some people who enjoy the smell.  To me it
smells rank -- like really dirty, sweaty, long-unwashed, kept-in-
a-moldy-shoe feet.  The ancient Greeks called it "phu" because this
was what people said when they smelled it  :-)
I don't know anything about melatonin.  I have no personal experience
with it and I don't know anyone who uses it.  I found the following
info about it, but I don't know how accurate it is. 
Anyway, FWIW:
===BEGIN
from Paul Bergner (bergner@concentric.net), Editor,
http://www.concentric.net/~bergner/MHHOME.HTM
Medical Herbalism:
I'm not surprised that melatonin is gone in Canada, and I predict that
it will go the way of DHEA here in the U.S. -- meaning that it will be
a prescription-only controlled item, treated like opiates.
I've just researched and written a lengthy article about melatonin,
and frankly I am shocked that natural healers would use this substance
casually like a sleeping pill. Melatonin is a powerful hormone that
affects the entire metabolic cycle, not just the sleep- wake cycle. We
rail against hormone-replacement therapy with estrogen- progresterone,
and then casually offer patients enough melatonin to raise blood levels
10-20 times their normal levels. This is bound to be a Devil's bargain,
and it is only a matter of time till regulatory agencies throughout the
world discover this and rightfully take measures to protect the public.
For instance: melatonin production by the pineal gland appears to be
an important part of the aging clock. The pineal glands of young mice,
transplanted to old mice, make the old mice "younger" and they
live about 1/3 longer. On the other hand, the pineal glands of older
mice, transplanted into younger mice, immediately makes them "older"
and they live about 1/3 shorter lives.
So what happens when some guy named Joe in Iowa takes ten mg of
melatonin (about twenty times what you need to achieve normal blood
level peaks) to sleep most nights for three years (this is actually
happening all over the place today) and then can't get the melatonin?
Will his pineal have lost its ability to produce the same levels as
previously? Most hormones have a negative feedback loop of one sort
or another -- would levels that high reduce endogenous production
over time? Will poor Joe then age ten years over the next few months?
I think melatonin has a proper place in natural medicine, in the
treatment or palliation of cancer, used for brief periods for jet
lag, and possible for the elderly, and may be a few more uses. But
IMO over-the-counter status is inviting health disaster.
====END
 DN>   Oh shoot, I meant to notice where you
 DN> were posting from. Hate to ask a dumb question, where are
 DN> you from?
This is very close:   61 deg. 25' N / 149 deg. 40' W   ;-)
Bests,
Alex 
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