PlainPill

Does Melatonin help with sleep?

Often, yes. 78% of 915 people who reported on Melatonin for sleep say it improved. 14% noticed no change and 8% say it got worse. That is below the typical result for sleep (82% across 71 options).

Sleep: what users report
78%better915 reports · high confidence
714 better127 no change74 worse

Ranked #17 of 71 for sleep.

What people say about Melatonin and sleep

“I have taken it nightly for 19 years. Doses ranging from .1 to 10mg. Right now I take 3mg per night. It helps me sleep.”
Read the discussion ↗
“A small dose 0.3mg works for me way better than higher doses.”
Read the discussion ↗
“I tried 1mg melatonin and this almost doubled my REM sleep but deep sleep stayed the same.”
Read the discussion ↗
“I used to take 50 mg before bedtime but now run out of it and use Dramamine instead. Sleep 8 hours. But with Melatonin dreams are more colourful.”
Read the discussion ↗

What the research says

AResearch: Strong688 meta-analyses · 1,128 trials on PubMed
Lancet · 2022
Comparative effects of pharmacological interventions for the acute and long-term management of insomnia disorder in adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Conclusion: Overall, eszopiclone and lemborexant had a favorable profile, but eszopiclone might cause substantial adverse events and safety data on lemborexant were inconclusive. Doxepin, seltorexant, and zaleplon were well tolerated, but data on efficacy and other important outcomes were scarce and do not allow firm conclusions. Many licensed drugs (including benzodiazepines, daridorexant, suvorexant, and trazodone) can be effective in the acute treatment of insomnia but are associated with poor tolerability, or information about long-term effects is not available. Melatonin, ramelteon, and non-licensed

J Pineal Res · 2024
Optimizing the Time and Dose of Melatonin as a Sleep-Promoting Drug: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

Conclusion: Meta-regression models showed that insomnia status (β = 0.50, p < 0.001) and time between treatment administration and the sleep episode (β = -0.16, p = 0.023) were significant predictors of sleep onset latency, while the time of day (β = -0.086, p < 0.01) was the only significant predictor of total sleep time. Our results suggest that advancing the timing of administration (3 h before the desired bedtime) and increasing the administered dose (4 mg/day), as compared to the exogenous melatonin schedule most used in clinical practice (2 mg 30 min before the desired bedtime), might optimize the e

Side effects people mention

drowsiness 127vivid dreams 86fatigue 30depression 17brain fog 15

What else is Melatonin used for?

Information only — not medical advice. How we count

Does Melatonin help with sleep? 78% of 915 users say yes — PlainPill