Is melatonin useful?

To be more specific, is it useful for any of the following:

  1. Getting to sleep faster (assuming good sleep hygiene)
  2. Staying asleep for longer (less random sleep disturbances not attributable to external factors, e.g. light, sound)
  3. Better quality sleep (greater REM cycle)
  4. ‘‘Recovery’’ from training (quote marks because the majority of us are probably undertrained anyway)
  5. Greater ‘‘freshness’’ in the morning, assuming no medical conditions resulting in increased morning fatigue?

Kind regards

Dominic.

Dominic,

Thanks for the post and happy to have you :slight_smile:

  1. Outside of jet lag or circadian rhythm disruptions, not really.
  2. Not really
  3. No
  4. Not at all
  5. Not at all

Surprisingly un-nuanced reply from Jordan!

i would say that the best evidence, as Jordan alluded to, for melatonin is for jet lag, shift work, and a couple other less common things (e.g. REM behavior disorder).

it is also true, however, that many people with a variety of insomnia types find melatonin helpful, and it is quite safe and benign to try, especially compared to other sleep remedies.

So, I would say that if you truly have maximized sleep hygiene, and don’t have another sleep disorder (or another drug interfering with sleep), melatonin is safe and worth it to try. And if it helps, you’ll feel and train better, since sleep is the best medicine of all.

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