Melatonin: what the evidence actually shows

settled melatonin — established for sleep onset; dosing myths persist

Reviewed by Substrate editorial, Independent research collective

⚠ Safety in context

uncertainwith SSRI: Melatonin with an SSRI: possible additive sedation; evidence is thin.

Evidence by outcome

sleepgrade Bmoderate certainty— reduces time to fall asleep; best for circadian timing

People say · Evidence shows

“Taking more melatonin makes sleep deeper”

aheadlargemechanistic speculation

Grade history

No grade changes yet. Initial grade assigned; re-reviewed on every 12 months (Grade A/B). Methodology v1.

Re-review cadence: every 12 months (Grade A/B) · methodology v1.

By outcome — the money pages

Melatonin for sleep — Grade B, moderate certainty

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Reuse under CC-BY 4.0 with attribution to evidencebased.info.

Plain-text citation

Substrate. Melatonin: what the evidence actually shows. https://evidencebased.info/interventions/melatonin. Updated 2026.

BibTeX

@misc{substrate_terventionsmelatonin,
  author = {Substrate editorial},
  title  = {Melatonin: what the evidence actually shows},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://evidencebased.info/interventions/melatonin},
  note   = {evidencebased.info}
}