Melatonin 1 mg by Natrol

 What does Melatonin do?

Melatonin is a natural hormone that regulates the human biological clock.

Double-blind research with young adults has shown that melatonin facilitates sleep.¹ Another study of healthy, young adults reported that melatonin significantly shortened the time needed to go to sleep, reduced the number of night awakenings, and improved sleep quality.² Other researchers reported the time needed to get to sleep was reduced with melatonin.³

Melatonin is also helpful in relieving symptoms of jet lag. One double-blind trial, involving a sample of international flight crew members taking either melatonin or a placebo for three days before and five days after an international flight, found that melatonin significantly reduced symptoms of jet lag and resulted in a quicker recovery of preflight energy levels and alertness.⁴

Less than 1 mg of melatonin has lowered pressure within the eyes of healthy people,⁵ but studies have not yet been published on the effects of using melatonin with people who have glaucoma. 

Melatonin might help some people suffering from depression. A small double-blind study suggested that supplementation with small amounts of melatonin (0.125 mg taken twice per day) may reduce winter depression.⁶ People with major depressive disorders sometimes have sleep disturbances. Melatonin has been shown to be effective at improving the quality of sleep of people with major depression.⁷ However, because of the possibility that melatonin could exacerbate depression, it should only be used for this purpose, under a doctor’s supervision.

When some people take melatonin to treat sleep disorders, chronic tension headaches are relieved.⁸ Melatonin has also relieved cluster headaches in double-blind research.⁹ Some researchers have suggested that melatonin’s role in regulating core body temperature may be responsible for preventing cluster headaches,¹⁰ which have been reported to be triggered by increased body heat.¹¹

Melatonin also regulates immunity. One group of doctors reported two successfully treated cases of sarcoidosis that it attributed to melatonin’s immune-modulating effect.¹² Also, because of its effects on the immune system, melatonin has been given to people with cancer in many research trials. Low blood levels of melatonin are associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer.¹³ Melatonin has significantly reduced the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA, a marker for cancer) in prostate cancer patients.¹⁴ Melatonin inhibits breast cancer cells in test tubes¹⁵ and has put some women with breast cancer into remission in preliminary research.¹⁶ Melatonin supplementation has improved disease-free survival in people with melanoma¹⁷ and increased survival in people with brain cancer¹⁸ and lung cancer.¹⁹ Melatonin exerts anti-inflammatory activity that may be responsible for its anticancer properties.²⁰

In a double-blind trial, people who had difficulty sleeping as a result of tinnitus were better able to sleep if given 3 mg melatonin per night for one month rather than a placebo.²¹ Although melatonin did not reduce overall symptom scores for tinnitus, people in this trial with higher symptom scores did appear to obtain some benefit.

Melatonin supplementation may be helpful in treating epilepsy; 5–10 mg of melatonin taken at bedtime reduced the frequency of seizures and improved sleep in a group of children with epilepsy in a small, preliminary trial.²² However, in a group of children suffering from neurological disorders, 1–5 mg of melatonin per night led to an increase in the rate of seizures.²³ Children with a seizure disorder called "myoclonus" were reported to have been cured by supplementing with 3–5 mg of melatonin per day in a preliminary trial.²⁴ Until more is known, children with neurological conditions should take melatonin only under medical supervision.

Melatonin may be useful in the treatment of fibromyalgia. In a small, uncontrolled preliminary study, 3 mg of melatonin at bedtime was found to reduce tender points associated with this disorder. Pain and fatigue improved only slightly.²⁵

Children with Angelman’s syndrome (a rare, genetic disorder characterized by severe mental retardation, seizures, and sleep disturbances) may benefit from low amounts of melatonin. In an uncontrolled study, children with Angelman’s Syndrome who took 0.3 mg of melatonin one-half to one hour before bedtime had significant improvement in nighttime sleep patterns and a reduction in movement disturbances during sleep.²⁶

Animal studies indicate that melatonin secretion may regulate cardiovascular activity,^{27 28} blood pressure,²⁹ and blood flow to the brain.³⁰ In healthy young men, oral administration of 1 mg of melatonin significantly reduced blood pressure and levels of stress hormones within 90 minutes.³¹ To date, no clinical trials in humans have tested the efficacy of melatonin for hypertension.