Shifts your body clock rather than knocking you out — which is why timing matters far more than dose.
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Melatonin is a hormone your pineal gland releases as light fades, signalling to the body that night has begun. Taken as a tablet it mimics that signal.
It is a body-clock medicine, not a sedative. It shifts when you feel sleepy rather than forcing sleep, and its effect is modest compared with a sleeping tablet.
That is precisely why the timing of the dose matters more than the size of it — taken at the wrong hour it can push your clock in the wrong direction and make things worse.
In the UK melatonin is a prescription-only medicine, unlike in the United States where it is sold as a supplement.
A small dose taken several hours before the desired bedtime, which is quite different from taking it at bedtime, and it needs proper guidance to get right.
Light is the more powerful signal. Bright light in the destination morning, and avoiding it in the evening, shifts the clock harder than melatonin does.
Generally well tolerated, and side effects are usually mild.
Taken at the wrong time it causes daytime sleepiness and can shift the body clock the wrong way, which is the commonest practical problem rather than a classic side effect.
Rarely: low mood, blurred vision, and skin reactions.
Caution with epilepsy, and in anyone on anticoagulants.
In children it should be specialist-initiated, alongside behavioural sleep work rather than instead of it.
No routine bloods required.
What should be reviewed is whether it is still needed, and whether the underlying sleep problem has actually been addressed.
Yes, in the situations where it genuinely helps — and we will be straight about the fact that ordinary insomnia is usually not one of them.
Where melatonin is a reasonable prescription:
Where it is not the answer: chronic insomnia in a working-age adult. CBT for insomnia is more effective than any medication and its benefit lasts after treatment stops, which no sleeping tablet achieves. NHS Talking Therapies and Sleepio provide it free.
We would also want to look for what is driving the sleep problem — sleep apnoea, anxiety, depression, restless legs, an overactive thyroid, alcohol, or shift work. Melatonin does nothing for any of those.
A prescription is never guaranteed. This page is information, not an offer to supply.
Melatonin is prescription-only in the UK. On a private prescription it is modestly priced; prolonged-release branded versions cost more than immediate-release generics.
NHS prescriptions are free in Wales.
Melatonin bought online or brought back from the United States is a supplement there, not a licensed medicine. Independent testing has repeatedly found actual content ranging from a fraction of the label dose to several times it, and some products have contained serotonin as a contaminant.
Buy it as a UK licensed medicine, or not at all.
Melatonin can be stopped without tapering. It is not habit-forming, there is no withdrawal, and no rebound insomnia of the kind seen with z-drugs — which is one of its genuine advantages.
Stop once you have adjusted, usually within a few days.
It is licensed for up to 13 weeks. If sleep is still poor at that point, the answer is not a longer prescription — it is reassessing the cause and doing CBT for insomnia properly.
No — it shifts when you feel sleepy rather than sedating you. The effect on ordinary insomnia is modest, which surprises people expecting something stronger.
No. It is prescription-only here, unlike the United States where it is sold as a supplement.
Not reliably. US supplements are not regulated as medicines, and testing has found doses ranging from far below to several times what the label claims. Use a UK licensed product.
At bedtime in your destination time zone, for a few nights after arriving — and mainly for eastward travel. Going west, most people adjust without it.
No. No dependence, no withdrawal, and no rebound insomnia — a real advantage over sleeping tablets.
Probably not much. CBT for insomnia works better and the benefit lasts, and it is free on the NHS. It is also worth checking for sleep apnoea, restless legs, anxiety and alcohol.
Only under specialist guidance, and alongside behavioural sleep work rather than in place of it.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
September 8, 2026
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