Are there any downsides or side effects of taking melatonin?

Question

Dr. Jelena Kunovac, MD · Answer

Melatonin plays a role in your natural sleep-wake cycle. The levels of melatonin in the blood are the highest at night. Short-term use of melatonin is generally considered very safe. On the contrary to many other sleep aids, you are very unlikely to become dependent on melatonin or to develop tolerance, which means to need higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect. The most commonly observed adverse events to melatonin are somnolence, dizziness, nausea, and headache. Less commonly observed adverse events are mild anxiety, short bouts of depression, mild tremor, abdominal cramps, confusion. But it is possible to experience some of those side effects as well. Melatonin can interact with some of the medication that you may potentially be taking. And those medications that most commonly interact with melatonin are anticoagulants or antiplatelets medication, antidiabetic medication, contraceptive medication, as well as anticonvulsives. And therefore, if you take any of those medications, including immunosuppressants, you should definitely consult your doctor before you start taking melatonin.

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"Are there any downsides or side effects of taking melatonin?"