Stop Taking Melatonin As a Sleep Pill

Most people think you should take melatonin 30 minutes before bed, but a recent 2024 meta-analysis of 26 randomized trials suggested that taking it around 3 hours before your desired bedtime could improve its sleep-promoting effects. And this might also be one of the reasons you get this melatonin hangover feeling in the morning. So before increasing the dose or thinking that melatonin doesn't work for you, you might want to reconsider the timing of when you take it. Because melatonin does more than make you sleepy, it also helps regulate your circadian rhythm, Which is your body's internal clock. And when you take it influences which direction that clock moves. So in this video we're going to look at how to use melatonin for that effect, the best time and way to take it, whether it suppresses your natural production and its benefits beyond sleep. Let's start with your body's clock. Your brain's central clock helps coordinate daily changes in alertness, body temperature, hormones and sleep. For example, in the morning, cortisol levels rise around the time you wake up and your melatonin levels fall. Blood pressure increases slightly as your body prepares for activity. In the evening, as darkness approaches, melatonin levels rise and your body temperature begins to fall, which prepares you for sleep. The biggest signal that regulates these processes is light entering your eyes. The production of melatonin by the pineal gland is initiated by the absence of green and blue wavelengths of light. Usually you get it from the sunlight, but in today's world, you also get that light from technology. Supplemental melatonin also raises blood melatonin levels and reinforces this signal, which is why melatonin supplements have been seen to be effective at increasing sleep duration and sleep quality in human randomized trials. However, the timing of when you take melatonin also seems to matter. The 2024 meta-analysis of 26 randomized controlled trials suggests that the melatonin dose for highest total sleep time and lowest sleep latency is 3-4 mg taken 3 hours before bed. Here's the reason. If you take melatonin early, it shifts your circadian rhythm earlier. You get a spike in melatonin earlier in the evening. This way you will feel sleepy before you even get into bed. Your sleep onset accelerates, the total sleep time increases, and you potentially wake up without the melatonin hangover. If you take it too close to bedtime, or immediately before bed, then the opposite happens. You shift your circadian rhythm later, melatonin stays in your system longer, it shifts your circadian rhythm later into the day, and you might experience this jetlag feeling in the morning. In this study, taking 0.5 milligrams of melatonin roughly 6 hours before habitual daytime produced the largest shift towards an earlier body clock. They saw 1.5 hours earlier clock over 3 days. If you want to start going to bed earlier, then you should also take melatonin earlier, instead of 30 minutes before bed. So instead of just taking melatonin for sleep, you also need to think about the way it affects your daily circadian rhythm. Is it going to move your circadian rhythm earlier or later into the day? But it's not just about melatonin, you also need to support the rhythm during the daytime. Get outside for daylight after waking up. This morning light synchronizes your circadian rhythm and also helps with falling asleep at night. Keep your wake-up time reasonably consistent. Going to bed and waking up around the same time entrains your circadian clocks and makes it easier to fall asleep. Then reduce the bright light as bedtime approaches. In a controlled human study, compared to dim light, exposure to room light before bedtime suppressed melatonin, resulting in a later melatonin onset in 99% of individuals and shortening the melatonin duration by about 90 minutes Even exposure to room light during the usual hours of sleep suppressed melatonin by more than 50% in 85% of the trials. You don't need stadium light to interfere with evening melatonin signaling. Even small lights will be enough. The safest forms of light in the evening are amber and red lights, because they don't suppress melatonin, at least not to the extent of blue and green light. Think of it like this. Bright days and dark nights. That's the light cycle that's best for your sleep and circadian rhythm. The best way to take melatonin is to influence that circadian rhythm. You shouldn't need it to fall asleep, but you can use it strategically to influence your circadian rhythm. Especially if you have changed time zones or you want to re-establish a more normal circadian rhythm. Now a common concern is that taking melatonin would suppress suppress natural production. However, there's no evidence of that happening. In people with insomnia, using 2 mg of prolonged release melatonin for 6-12 months showed no evidence of suppressed endogenous production of melatonin after discontinuing the supplement. They also didn't show any typical withdrawal symptoms or rebound insomnia. One argument is that your body only makes around 200 micrograms of melatonin naturally, so you should never take more than 0.1 or 0.2 mg of melatonin. However, oral melatonin has only about 15% bioavailability. If you take 2mg, it gives you roughly 0.3mg absorbed. That's almost exactly what your body produces naturally. So taking 0.1 or even 1mg of melatonin as a supplement gives you an extremely small amount. By the way, if you want to learn about the research and effects of 100 supplements, then check out my book The New Science of Supplements. We talk about what's true about some supplements, what benefits have been observed in human studies, which supplements have little to no evidence, and what are the correct research dosages. You can get the book from Amazon or the link down in the description. Alright, so let me put all of it into some practical steps. Establish consistent circadian signals. Get morning daylight, wake up at the regular time, and dim the lights in the evening. Sleep in complete darkness, or wear an eye mask. You should also identify your goal with melatonin supplementation. If you sleep well on a later schedule or struggle to fall asleep earlier, then your body clock may need some adjusting. Try to fix the natural circadian signals first. If you wake up repeatedly, figure out what's the cause for that. Melatonin is not going to fix sleep apnea or some other problem like that. Match the timing and the formulation of melatonin to your goal. If you want an earlier sleep schedule, consider low-dose, immediate-release melatonin earlier in the evening. The 2024 analysis suggests that around 3 hours before your bedtime is most ideal. For older adults with insomnia, prolonged-release melatonin may be better. The studies on this include 2 mg taken 1-2 hours before bed. Use the lowest effective dose. The 2024 analysis found that the peak was at 4 mg of melatonin. But this doesn't mean that everyone should take four milligrams. Maybe for you, a smaller one is enough. And lastly, track the changes you experience. Are you falling asleep more easily, sleeping longer? And are you functioning better in the morning? Melatonin has evidence that it helps with sleep, but you also need to get the timing right. And it starts with understanding your own body's internal circadian clock. If you want to know how I achieved top 1% health across 100 biomarkers, including taking my VO2max from 53 to 66, and dropping my visceral fat from 359 grams to 54 grams, then check out this video next.