A study questions melatonin use and heart health but don't lose sleep
over it
[November 08, 2025]
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — Don’t lose sleep over headlines linking melatonin to
heart failure.
That’s the message after some scary-sounding reports about a preliminary
study involving the sleep-related supplement. It raised questions about
the safety of long term use of melatonin for insomnia.
Doctors have long known that too little or interrupted sleep raises the
risk of heart disease. But heart experts say this kind of so-called
observational study can't prove that melatonin use plays any role —
instead of the insomnia patients were trying to treat.
“We should not raise the alarm and tell patients to stop taking all
their melatonin,” said Dr. Pratik Sandesara, an interventional
cardiologist at Emory Healthcare who wasn’t involved with the research.
Our bodies naturally produce melatonin, a hormone that regulates our
sleep cycles. Levels normally increase as it gets darker in the evening,
triggering drowsiness.
People may take lab-produced melatonin to help them fall asleep or to
adjust for jet lag or time changes.
The new study used international electronic health records, tracking
adults diagnosed with insomnia who had a melatonin prescription that
suggested they used the supplement for at least a year.
Over five years, 4.6% of the chronic melatonin users developed heart
failure compared to 2.7% of insomnia patients whose charts showed no
melatonin use, the researchers found. The study is being presented at an
American Heart Association meeting but hasn’t undergone peer review.
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The label for a bottle of melatonin pills is seen in New York on
Thursday, June 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
 But only certain countries require a
melatonin prescription. It’s over-the-counter in the U.S., meaning
Americans in the study might have used the supplements without it
being recorded, said Northwestern University cardiology chief Dr.
Clyde Yancy, who wasn't involved in the study. The study also did
not show dosages.
Also, U.S. supplements don’t require government approval, meaning
brands can vary in their ingredients. The researchers, from SUNY
Downstate Health Sciences University, characterized the findings as
a call for more research.
Meanwhile, patients wondering about melatonin should talk it over
with their doctors, said Emory’s Sandesara. Generally doctors
recommend it for short-term use, like for jet lag.
Yancy noted that while the study doesn't prove there's a danger from
long term melatonin use, there's also no evidence that people should
use melatonin indefinitely.
And one key to better shut-eye is to practice better sleep hygiene,
like making sure your room is dark.
“When we expose ourselves to blue light in particular at night, we
are diminishing our melatonin levels. That’s science,” he said.
Sleep problems aren’t about “just being sleepy and tired — they’re
putting yourself at risk.”
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