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Long-term use of melatonin supplements to support sleep may have negative health effects
(newsroom.heart.org)
this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2026
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i took 1mg for a few years. i got diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and once i started getting treated for that--sleeping through the night like a baby--the melatonin was just something i kept doing as my night time ritual.
eventually, i ran out and couldn't easily find a replacement for 1 mg pils. the minimum i could find was like 5mg and it was all gummies. 5mg? like who am i, pablo escobar? so i just stopped taking it.
i kinda miss at physician check ins when i would list medications and tell the nurse i took melatonin and they'd ask how much, id say "1mg" and i could just about perceive them rolling their eyes like "why am i even writing this down, giant gorilla taking fucking half a baby aspirin" lol.
Actually chuckled aloud at this
A friend of mine who used to really struggle with insomnia said his sleep doc recommended similar, and that the dosages are out of control since it's an unregulated "supplement", I think he ended up taking the 3mg pills (smallest you can get here easily) and cutting them into 1/4s and taking one quarter each night, along with a host of other changes to routine and sleep hygiene and treatment of other health issues which all contributed to him being pretty much fine now. But he still needs like 9 hours of sleep a night at least to feel rested
i used to suffer from primary insomnia in my early 20s and self medicated in a lot of not-recommended ways, so i wouldn't judge anyone for the things they try. lack of sleep is bad for the brain thonks.
it does feel like they push hog wild amounts of melatonin on people these days. like they figured out it wouldn't immediately kill people, so they try to get people to max dose.