Melaton-3 by Thorne

If you need help falling asleep, travel across time zones, or work nights, melatonin 3 mg can be a practical, off‑the‑shelf dose. It’s strongest when your sleep problem is circadian (your internal 24‑hour clock is misaligned), like jet lag or a delayed sleep phase where you naturally get sleepy very late. Healthy adults with age‑related declines in natural melatonin often respond, too. If you mainly wake up at 3 a.m. and can’t get back to sleep, melatonin is less reliable than sleep timing, morning light, and caffeine cutoffs.

Melatonin is the brain’s darkness signal made by the pineal gland that tells your body it’s nighttime. Taking melatonin at night can modestly shorten the time to fall asleep, and when taken earlier in the evening it can shift your internal clock earlier, which is why it helps jet lag. Its sleep‑onset effect is small on average (minutes, not hours) but clinically meaningful when timing is the issue. It is also an antioxidant in cells, but that’s not why people feel it working.

Thorne suggests one capsule at bedtime. In practice, start low if you’re new to melatonin: 0.3–1 mg 30–60 minutes before bed, then use 3 mg if lower doses don’t move the needle after a few nights. For eastbound jet lag or a delayed sleep phase, take it 3–5 hours before your current bedtime and pair with bright light soon after waking. Avoid alcohol at night, which fragments sleep and blunts melatonin’s effect.

Avoid melatonin if you’re on warfarin or other blood thinners without clinician oversight, because of bleeding risk reports. Transplant recipients and anyone on immunosuppressants should skip it, as melatonin can stimulate immune activity. Use caution with bipolar disorder (can trigger sleep‑phase shifts), uncontrolled epilepsy, or if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. If morning grogginess or vivid dreams persist, lower the dose or stop.