Melatonin never worked for me. I was a terrible sleeper before kava and I have a sleep apnea machine. I think my sleep problems were mostly anxiety, being a worry wart keeping myself up all night and not being able to shut off my brain. So I think it is a double whammy why kava works so great for me, it's natural anxiolytic properties(tested to work better than Xanax), and it's sedative properties. One strain of kava I had I can't even drink during the day or afternoon because two cups and I am sleeping within an hour. Though everyone reacts a little differently to the different strains of kava due to the chemotype of the strain of the root and how you react to the chemotype make up of it. All strains have made me rest well. Some strains can make you antsy if you drink too much of them, but even then it made me maybe stay up and hour later than usual and I still woke up refreshed. I also never sleep so sound before where on the weekends I couldn't roll back over and nod back off again. A full night sleep on kava and you are up, wide awake, refreshed, and there is no drifting back off. I sort of joke that kava reminds of an Army Drill Sergeant in the morning. It screams at you, I know you slept well from me effer, now grab your sack and get out of the rack.
On a side note, I successfully chased off an incoming migraine drinking yerba mate tea yesterday. I felt my eyestabber creeping in and knew it was on the way. I ran to the kitchen and slammed some iced mate and then made a nice hot cup of mate, and I was feeling better in about a half hour.
I had stopped believing in herbal medicines. I tried so many over the years for migraines and sleeping, and they were all bunk for me. I think the problem is, you need the actual plant or root, not some pill form concoction that some company mixes up.
