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Will melatonin help with nightmares?

I had a very bad night last night in which I kept jerking awake from nightmares and sleep talking. After ten hours, I "woke" up exhausted (didn't feel like I had slept) and my poor boyfriend didn't get a moment of rest because I kept kicking him. He's suggested that I try taking some melatonin to help get my sleep cycles a bit more regular. Should this help with getting me into a deeper sleep that I don't keep waking from?

While melatonin is something that the body produces to help us sleep, there's very little evidence it works to help you get to sleep. It wouldn't have much effect on your nightmares either. Nightmares in adults are related more to stess than anything else. Something is eating at you, and until you at least figure that out, you will just have more sleepless, or sleep disturbed nights. REM sleep is part of the normal sleep cycle pattern, and nightmares are not a symptom of one that is out of order. There is something that you are not dealing with during your waking day, which is leaving your sleeping mind to deal with it. It could be work related, school related, or even relationship related. If you need clues, ask the boyfriend what things you are saying in your sleep. If you can't figure out anything that is eating at you, then it's possible that these are just garden variety nightmares. They do happen sometimes, and don't mean anything is wrong really- just you have an overtired body and mind mostly. To set the stage for a better night sleep, try spending the hour or so before bedtime in a quite and relaxing atmosphere. The 10pm news usually isn't good entertainment. Instead, try a warm soak in the tub, a cup of chamomile tea, and some soft music, with low lighting. Keep in mind, you are slowing down things, so the body gently goes off to sleep. It's really hard to go from 60MPH to 0, and not have things get out of sync. So gently and softly is the key. And don't go letting your mind dwell on the nightmares of previous nights either. Tell the boyfriend that the rare loss of sleep due to a restless bedmate is sometimes part of the relationship equation. It could be worst- and you could snore like my DH. That's a nightmare of a whole different sort. The melatonin won't help, figure out what eats you during the day and see it that doesn't help more.