Here’s Everything to Know About Taking Melatonin, According to Experts

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

Melatonin has quietly become the go-to sleep savior for anyone who's ever stared at the ceiling at 2 a.m. during a red-eye layover or a particularly anxious Tuesday. But the supplement is wildly misunderstood — and how you use it matters more than whether you use it at all. According to Women's Health Magazine, here's what the experts actually want you to know.

Your body already makes melatonin on its own. The pineal gland releases the hormone when darkness signals your circadian rhythm, explains Keri Peterson, MD, an internal medicine physician and Women's Health advisory board member. The supplement version is meant to support that process — not override it. The problem is most people expect it to knock them out instantly and guarantee eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. It doesn't work that way. Sports dietitian Leslie Bonci, RD, notes that it may take a couple of weeks to notice any effect, and even then, results vary. Taking it too close to bedtime is also a common mistake — timing matters, and the sweet spot is one to two hours before you want to be asleep.

Before You Pop That Capsule

The good news: melatonin is considered safe and non-addictive. The caveat: both Peterson and Bonci stress it shouldn't become a nightly ritual. "Melatonin is a crutch," Peterson says plainly — lean on it too heavily and you never actually develop the ability to fall asleep on your own. Your first line of defense should still be solid sleep hygiene: a cool, dark room, a sound machine, cutting off caffeine after 1 p.m., no food within three hours of bed, and wrapping up exercise at least an hour before you turn in. Melatonin works best when everything else is already stacked in your favor. And while it doesn't lose potency over time, the body does adapt to it — another reason to reserve it for genuine disruptions like crossing time zones, not just every mildly restless night.

If you do decide to try it, start at 0.5 mg, one to two hours before bed, Peterson advises. If nothing shifts after a month, you can try doubling the dose — but don't exceed 5 mg. Higher doses haven't shown stronger results and come with an increased risk of headaches, dizziness, and next-day grogginess. Anyone managing a hormone-related condition like diabetes or thyroid disease should talk to their doctor first, since melatonin is a hormone. Pregnant women and anyone under 18 should skip it entirely until more data exists.

When shopping, look for third-party tested products and skip the trendy "sleep cocktail" blends — Bonci points out they likely contain a negligible amount of actual melatonin padded with filler ingredients. If you want a food-based approach, tart cherry juice and walnuts are natural melatonin sources worth adding to your nighttime routine. And yes, there's always the supplement aisle — just go in knowing that the most powerful sleep tool you have is still the one your own brain was built to produce.

Melatonin can be a genuinely useful reset button — but only if you treat it as a situational tool, not a nightly subscription.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.