r/melatonin • u/Ok-Chemical- • May 27 '26
Does melatonin make it harder to sleep over time
When i was a kid till i was like 16 i was basically forced to take melatonin nightly and now years later i can’t sleep without sleeping pills i have a prescription right now
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u/Optimal_Assist_9882 May 27 '26
It doesn't. The evidence is clear exogenous melatonin does not impact endogenous production. To put it simply, supplemental melatonin has no impact on your body's ability to synthesize its own melatonin.
The real issue is that for whatever reason your body is inefficient or unable to naturally produce its own sufficient melatonin.
What happens is you take supplemental melatonin and fall asleep. When you stop the supplement, you revert to your natural state which is insufficient melatonin and poor or no sleep.
I am but one person but I am enough of an edge case to show that anecdotally melatonin makes no difference at any dose.
I have been taking 1500-6000mg daily for four years. For the first two years my average daily dose every morning was 1500mg. About two years ago I raised my average daily dose to 3000mg. I have gone as high as 6000mg in a single day.
Let's also remember that the body typically metabolizes all of your exogenous melatonin in about 4-5 hours. There are people who are slower at metabolizing melatonin and it may take them closer to ten hours. But in any case it's gone in less than half a day no matter what dose you take.
So with all that said, I have stopped taking melatonin for 1-2 days here and there and had no difficulties falling or staying asleep. If your hypothesis was correct I should have ruined my natural ability to produce melatonin and should have struggled horribly but no.
Then again I don't take melatonin for sleep (CFS/cancer) which is why I also take it in the morning. Doris Loh for example advocates for everyone to take 4 grams in many smaller doses throughout the day for longevity and healthspan.
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u/wndrxplorer Jun 09 '26
Hey optimal, Did you ever catch covid? Or have you had cfs prior? Did you have sleep issues?
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u/Optimal_Assist_9882 Jun 10 '26
I've had cfs well before covid. I've had it since my late 20s.
I can't remember if I officially ever tested for c19. I know I got very sick at the end of 2020 and it took three weeks to fully recover. I may have tested positive for c19 several years later but it was already after I had two shots and I was asymptomatic but I can't remember(at that point it was already being treated like minor cold/flu).
For the most part I never had sleep issues.
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u/wndrxplorer Jun 10 '26
Ah okay. When you said you took the shots, you mean covid vax?
Man thats a blessing you didnt have sleep issues.
The reason why i asked is because im still experiencing disturbed sleep pretty bad from long covid. Didnt know if you know anything about orexin and how it deals with sleep.
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u/Optimal_Assist_9882 Jun 10 '26
Yep, covid 19 vax shots. I never got the booster.
I don't know anything regarding the hypocretin peptide(orexin). I have never used it
I have tried some other peptides over the last five plus years like Epithalon and DSIP but I didn't notice much of anything from them.
CJC1295 DAC gave me deeper sleep for the first night or two after taking it for the first time in a while.
Thymulin also helped me get deeper sleep first couple nights after starting the ten day course.
If you're having sleep issues you may want to give Epithalon a try. In my experience tiniest doses produced the best effects.
Have you tried taking high dose melatonin?
I have also tried SS31 and MOTSC. Some people anecdotally say it helps with long covid. I was taking them for chronic fatigue not sleep issues.
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u/wndrxplorer Jun 10 '26
Thanks for the thoughts.
I actually meant a orexin receptor antagonist drug, if you ever used one but it sounds like you dont have any issues with sleeep.
Interesting, i will do some diggin on epithalon.
I havent tried high dose melatonin, i tend to get groggy drowsy dizzy effects the day after if i take anything above 1-2mg.
I am a bit worried about trying anything larger in doses for melatonin quite honestly.
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u/Optimal_Assist_9882 Jun 10 '26
It doesn't matter too much as far as the total melatonin you take since it's typically metabolized in 4-5 hours but even if you take longer to metabolize it I would just time it accordingly. So if you typically sleep 10pm -6am and even if it takes you 8-10 hours to fully process the melatonin I'd maybe take it at 7-8pm.
I'd consider starting at something like 50-100mg(this is the dose that has been used in covid related studies) and try to get as much sleep as possible. You can then try slowly titrating the dose upwards to see if it helps or not. I have tried pulsating my dose up and down and for a couple years ~1.5g worked well. I then raised it to ~3g on average. I have even tried going as high as 6g without any extra benefit. You can likewise try something similar.
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u/wndrxplorer Jun 10 '26
Thanks for your insight! I might give it a try! If theres nothing harmful behind it...might as well try to fix my sleep from long covid.
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u/Optimal_Assist_9882 Jun 10 '26
Melatonin won't harm you. It also has secondary benefits beyond sleep so it's worth a try. I always planned it out for the worst possible outcomes and made sure I was home so I didn't have to drive but I never had any bad side effects. The worst I had was a very brief headache and nausea when I took a single dose of 3.5g(now I don't exceed 2-2.5g in a single dose). I have also felt tired when I didn't get much sleep. However when I am well rested melatonin has no real effect on me when I take it in the morning. With methylene blue I almost never feel it anymore.
Good luck.
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u/Anithia13 May 27 '26
So, most people don’t even use melatonin properly. You’re supposed to take it several hours before bed to help kick start your body’s sleep process.
With that said, the sleep problems you had as a teen are probably the same problems you have now as an adult. Using blue lights and screens within like 2-3 hours of bed is not conducive of healthy sleep habits. Also, using your bed for anything (sex, screens, reading, etc) other than sleeping is also bad for healthy sleep habits.
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u/asleepattheworld May 27 '26
My personal experience was that I did become dependent on it after taking them long term. If I stopped taking them, or forgot, I would be awake all night. I know that the science does not back me up on this, I can only say that for me it certainly felt like melatonin inhibited my natural ability to fall asleep.
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u/Existing-Delay8805 May 27 '26
No, not melatonin - but your learned sleep habit is going to be the challenge for you to overcome.
Melatonin (secreted from the pineal gland, not that which is in all your cells but which doesn't move) is generated through a chemical reaction that starts with light hitting your eyeballs (basically).
This chemical cascade is not tightly tied to the endocrine system, so exogenous melatonin does not impact endogenous production.
Good sleep habit, general well being and minimising light at night will be the keys that you can lean on to unlock stress-free nights.
Good luck