It is a scenario played out nightly in countless bedrooms: popping a chewable, berry-flavoured gummy right before turning off the lights. For a while now, melatonin has been the internet’s favourite bedtime ritual — a simple trick to get some shut-eye. But a new study linking long-term use to heart issues has left many staring at their nightstands in panic. Also read | How much melatonin should one take as sleeping aid?
Melatonin is OTC in the US. When labs test bottles, the actual content ranges from a fraction of the label to several times it. This is wild. Nuance before you throw your gummies out: this is health records, not a trial. Everyone in it had insomnia, and the melatonin group medicated nightly for a year+, meaning their sleep was probably worse to begin with. Chronic bad sleep ITSELF => heart failure risk! Also read | Taking melatonin for regular sleep support? Safety concerns, common effects, and expert advice you need to know ⦿ Sleeplessness itself harms the heart: people who take melatonin nightly for a year usually suffer from severe, chronic insomnia. Long-term sleep deprivation is already a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. “For someone who takes melatonin occasionally, these findings should not be a reason to panic. For someone taking it every night for months or years, however, it is worth discussing whether continued use is appropriate and whether the underlying sleep problem needs to be evaluated.
Nobody tracks how much anyone actually takes. gummies = 5-10 mg dose that recreates your body’s natural nighttime = ~ 0.3mg. However, a recent study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025 has raised questions about the long-term use of melatonin among people with insomnia.” ⦿ Anyone with pre-existing heart failure or prescriptions for other sleep drugs was excluded. Because it raises a question about the long-term cardiovascular safety of melatonin, but it does not prove that melatonin causes heart failure, the new findings offered a gentle wake-up call, not a reason to throw out your sleep routine in horror, Dr Mehrotra shared as he summarised: “The new study is important. The most accurate message at this point is therefore one of caution rather than alarm,” he concluded.
Parmita said, “My analysis: They didn’t record doses. “Melatonin is commonly used to help with sleep,” he said, adding, “Since melatonin is a hormone naturally produced by the body, many people assume that taking it as a supplement regularly is completely safe. “Over a five-year follow-up period, the researchers found that 4.6 percent of people with long-term melatonin use developed heart failure, compared with 2.7 percent of those in the comparison group,” Dr Mehrotra noted.
