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interventions / Melatonin / stress

Does Melatonin help stress? (Grade B evidence)

Explore current source-reported research for this exact question. These records are separate from the synthesis below; they do not update its grade or establish a recommendation.

Melatonin shows a Grade B benefit for stress — moderate-certainty evidence in the recorded sources, especially in adults undergoing surgery. Typical studied doses are varies; given before surgery in the trials.

Exact question reviewed

Population
adults undergoing surgery
Intervention
Melatonin · varies; given before surgery in the trials
Comparator
not reported
Outcome
stress
Time horizon
not reported

Bottom line. Melatonin shows a Grade B benefit for stress — moderate-certainty evidence in the recorded sources, especially in adults undergoing surgery. Typical studied doses are varies; given before surgery in the trials. [1 SR/meta]

Direction
benefit
Magnitude
Cochrane review of 27 RCTs (2319 participants): melatonin reduced preoperative anxiety versus placebo, with effects broadly comparable to benzodiazepines such as midazolam in the trials that compared them. Evidence for postoperative anxiety was less certain. This is an acute, perioperative-anxiety context, not general everyday stress.
Grade
B
Certainty
moderate
Clinical meaning
small but potentially useful
Who it applies to
adults undergoing surgery
Dose / form studied
varies; given before surgery in the trials
Safety
uncertain_with_ssri
The one limitation
Claim-specific limitation details are not available in this public record.

Reviewed not reported · Evidence last changed · Open evidence record (version 0)

⚠ Safety in context

Grade
B
what does the grade mean?
Certainty
moderate
what does certainty mean?

Grade B / moderate: probably helps, and new studies are unlikely to reverse this — but could shrink the effect size.

Who it works for

Best-studied in adults undergoing surgery. Recorded studied dose: varies; given before surgery in the trials.

Evidence

StudyDesignRoleCite
Melatonin for preoperative and postoperative anxiety in adults.peer-reviewedsupportsPMID:33319916

Why this grade

Reasoning trace

The current record stores Grade B at moderate certainty and links 1 publishable source. A claim-specific domain-by-domain grading rationale is not available in this public record, so no reason for upgrading or downgrading is inferred here.

Audit and version

Claim ID
ec_b7-mel-stress
Claim version
not reported
Governance
legacy, not verified
Clinician review
Not yet reviewed by a licensed clinician
Last evidence search
not reported
Last editorial review
not verified

Public receipt · Machine-readable claim · Methodology

Dose & form

Studied intake: varies; given before surgery in the trials.

How it stacks up for stress

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.

Frequently asked

How long does Melatonin take to work for stress?

This record does not report a studied onset time for Melatonin and stress. Do not assume a typical timeframe.

What dose was used in studies of Melatonin for stress?

The recorded studied dose for Melatonin and stress is varies; given before surgery in the trials. This is a source detail, not a dose recommendation.

Does Melatonin work for stress if I'm not deficient?

The recorded studied population is adults undergoing surgery. This field alone does not show whether deficiency or baseline status changes the effect.

Melatonin or the next-best alternative for stress?

See the compare block above for the head-to-head with the most-cited alternative. Grade + certainty differences matter more than any single trial.

Related

What this is — and is not

Evidence description
Cochrane review of 27 RCTs (2319 participants): melatonin reduced preoperative anxiety versus placebo, with effects broadly comparable to benzodiazepines such as midazolam in the trials that compared them. Evidence for postoperative anxiety was less certain. This is an acute, perioperative-anxiety context, not general everyday stress.
Substrate's interpretation
The current reviewed record assigns Grade B at moderate certainty. A domain-by-domain rationale is shown only when recorded.
Discuss with a clinician
If you're on medication or have a condition that changes the calculus, bring the interaction & population blocks above to your pharmacist or prescriber before deciding.
Individualized medical advice
Not provided here or on any Substrate surface (API, agent tool, embed) — see YMYL policy.

Cite this page

Citation is encouraged. The proposed reuse license is CC-BY-4.0; status: pending-governance-ratification.

Plain-text citation
Substrate. Does Melatonin help stress? (Grade B). https://evidencebased.info/interventions/melatonin/stress. Updated 2026-07-16.
BibTeX
@misc{substrate_tionsmelatoninstress,
  author = {Substrate editorial},
  title  = {Does Melatonin help stress?},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://evidencebased.info/interventions/melatonin/stress},
  note   = {Grade B, evidencebased.info}
}

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Current source-reported research

Membership uses admitted intervention and measured-outcome associations for this exact question. Different populations, preparations, comparators and timepoints remain separate. No pooling or update to the synthesis is asserted.