6 minutes of readingGetting seven to nine hours of sleep a night is crucial for your brain, heart, immune system, and your ability to handle all the stressful and boring stuff that happens during your waking hours. But sleep can also be incredibly elusive, especially for middle-aged women. This is why so many of us rely on melatonin supplements to get a good night’s sleep.
But taking any type of sleep aid can conversely keep you up at night by worrying, Is it safe? And melatonin is no exception.
So we asked experts if it’s really safe to take this sleep supplement every night.
Meet the Experts: Bradley Serwer, MD, is a cardiologist and chief medical officer at Vital Solution; Christopher Winter, MD, is a sleep medicine specialist, neurologist, and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Interrupted and How to Fix It; Jamie K. Alan, Ph.D., is a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University; Noah SiegelMD, is medical director of otolaryngology at Mass Eye and Ear.
What exactly is melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone that your brain naturally produces in response to darkness, and it’s essential for regulating your circadian rhythms (the internal clock that tells you when it’s time to close your eyes and when it’s time to get up and live your life).
However, one of the reasons you may pass out as soon as your head hits the pillow when you’re in your 20s or 30s, and then stare at the ceiling until 2 a.m. once you hit your 40s, is that your body produces less melatonin as you get older. Certain other diseases and conditions, including cancer, certain mood disorders, and type 2 diabetes, can also cause a decrease in melatonin production.
People who have sleep problems often turn to melatonin supplements, which mimic the role of natural melatonin and are growing exponentially in popularity. Globally, sleep-deprived people spent an estimated $3.2 billion on melatonin in 2026, a figure expected to triple over the next decade. A survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that 5.7 percent of Americans used some kind of over-the-counter sleeping pill or supplement, including melatonin.
Keep in mind that this is the time of sleep, says Christopher Winter, MD, of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Interrupted and How to Fix It. “It’s not a sedative,” he said. “It’s not meant to knock you out.”
Before you start taking melatonin regularly before bed, read what experts have to say about the safety of the sleeping pill.
How do melatonin supplements work?
“Exogenous melatonin, meaning the melatonin you consume, is exactly the same as the melatonin your body produces,” says Jamie K. Alan, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, who adds that it does the same job in promoting sleep.
Still, using melatonin supplementation can be “complicated,” says Dr. Winter. “When you buy melatonin, you don’t know for sure what you’re taking,” he explains. In fact, recent research found that store-bought samples of melatonin contained between 0% and 667% of what was listed on the label, meaning you run the risk of getting ripped off or getting a massive amount of it into your system.
It’s also important to note that while melatonin can help restore your sleep pattern, research has not found it to be effective for chronic insomnia, Dr. Winter says, and guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) indicate that there is not enough strong evidence on the effectiveness of melatonin supplementation for chronic insomnia to recommend its use.
One of the risks of using this supplement is that you might become psychologically dependent on it, says Noah Siegel, MD, medical director of otolaryngology at Mass Eye and Ear. “The best way to initiate sleep is to do so without the need for substances, particularly melatonin,” he says. “Over time, people will convince themselves that they won’t be able to sleep if they don’t take their melatonin.”
How can you use melatonin supplements safely?
There are, however, perfectly legitimate reasons to use melatonin, including jet lag and sleep disruption caused by shift work. “Sleep doctors will use it to help someone adjust their sleep timing,” Dr. Winter says. Exactly when to take melatonin may require some trial and error, since melatonin production naturally increases in your body when the sun goes down (and you usually don’t go to bed for hours after that).
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As for dosage, Dr. Siegel says one to two milligrams taken about a half hour before bed should be enough.
If you’re considering taking melatonin to avoid jet lag, Dr. Winter recommends using a jet lag calculator to determine exactly when to take melatonin. For shift work, talk to your doctor about the timing strategy that best fits your schedule.
What are the side effects of melatonin?
Melatonin may cause mild side effects, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, including:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Want to sleep
Is melatonin safe to use every night?
Now let’s move on to the million dollar question: Is this sleep supplement safe to use? As more people rely on melatonin, researchers have examined its effects, and many are calling for caution: A study presented in 2025 by the American Heart Association found that people who take melatonin regularly are more likely to experience negative health effects, including some quite serious effects: Adults with insomnia who used melatonin for at least a year have a 90% greater chance of heart failure than non-users. It was also found that melatonin users were more likely to require hospitalization for heart failure and were almost twice as likely as non-melatonin users to die from any cause.
While this sounds alarming, it’s important to know that melatonin use in the study was based only on users identified from official health records: people who took it as an over-the-counter supplement would not have been counted as melatonin users.
As Bradley Serwer, MD, an interventional cardiologist, points out, “The study did not show causality; it simply showed a correlation. » He theorizes: “When a long-term melatonin supplement is ingested, the body decreases the amount of melatonin it produces naturally. It is possible that a higher dose of exogenous melatonin may overstimulate specific chemical receptors in the heart, which may lead to abnormal cardiac remodeling increasing the risk of congestive heart failure.”
But given labeling issues with melatonin, which as an over-the-counter supplement is not regulated by the FDA, another major concern is overuse: another study published in JAMA suggested that long-term use of melatonin “may raise safety concerns, especially since the actual melatonin content of marketed supplements can be up to 478% higher than the labeled content.”, and that the evidence supporting the use of melatonin for sleep disorders is weak.
Conclusion: Is it safe to use melatonin from time to time?
Short-term use of melatonin is generally considered safe, Dr. Winter says. “There are few side effects and you really can’t get hurt with it,” he emphasizes. (As with all supplements, talk to your doctor before trying a new supplement, and if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you’ll want to skip it, as there is little research on the safety of melatonin use in these groups.)
If you have trouble sleeping and are considering using melatonin, Dr. Winter recommends checking with your doctor first. “Other than occasional use to compensate for jet lag or shift work, I don’t think it’s useful,” he says.
Dr. Siegel agrees, emphasizing that good sleep hygiene should be your first step. This involves maintaining a consistent sleep and wake schedule, keeping your bedroom cool and dark, disconnecting computers and phones at least an hour before bed, and avoiding caffeine, alcohol, and heavy meals in the evening.
“If someone really wants to solve their sleep problem, melatonin is not the answer,” says Dr. Winter. “You need to find a more durable and permanent solution than depending on a capsule for the rest of your life.”
Food supplements are products intended to supplement the diet. They are not medicines and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent or cure any disease. Use caution when taking dietary supplements if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Also use caution when giving supplements to a child unless recommended by their healthcare professional.
Gn Health
