Supplement evidence

074 / 575Sleep formulation

Immediate-release melatonin

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The short answer

Best suited to sleep-onset timing and circadian objectives rather than maintaining sleep all night.

Evidence and scope: Supported for specific outcomes
This status does not grade the ingredient for every goal, outcome, or person.
Important limitation: Evidence supports a specific outcome, not a general wellness or longevity effect.
Before deciding: Key concern: Sedatives, alcohol, anticoagulants, seizure disorders, pregnancy, and driving require caution.

01 / PRACTICAL GUIDE

Dose, absorption, and combinations

These are indication-specific reference or studied ranges—not a personalized prescription. Start with the objective, then check the form, label, medicines, and health conditions.

Reference range by objective

Sleep onset0.5–3 mg 30–90 minutes before bed

Reference or studied range—not a personalized prescription. The product label or a clinician may specify a different dose.

Dose source ↗

Jet lag0.5–5 mg near destination bedtime

Reference or studied range—not a personalized prescription. The product label or a clinician may specify a different dose.

Dose source ↗

More is not automatically better. A clinician or product label may specify a different amount.

Absorption / solubilityFat-soluble / lipid-based

Fat-soluble or lipid-based. Absorption generally improves with a meal containing fat.

How it is commonly taken

Timing matters more than taking it with food; a heavy meal may delay absorption.

Do not combine casually

Sedatives, alcohol, anticoagulants, seizure disorders, pregnancy, and driving require caution.

Dose and use source ↗

Dose and use links lead to primary or official source material. Search links are discovery tools, not proof that every returned paper applies.

02 / EVIDENCE

What the research says

We keep supportive, mixed, negative, safety, and contextual findings together. The headline never replaces the underlying papers.

2research papers in this ledger

2unique primary studies represented

164unique participants represented

These are audited counts for this JIVANA collection, not search-result totals. Participants are counted once when multiple papers use the same cohort; review papers are not added again to participant totals.

Open the research timelineResearch timeline

Entries are ordered by publication year. A study period appears only when the source reports it.

2024

Mixed or qualifiedPMID 37150895 · NCT04067791

Pharmacokinetics of extended-release compared with immediate-release melatonin

Immediate release peaked sooner (0.6 versus 1.56 hours) and higher, but had a shorter half-life (0.95 versus 1.63 hours). This small single-dose study establishes formulation exposure differences, not better sleep or other clinical outcomes.

Published: 2024Duration: Two single-dose periods separated by a 7-day washoutn=18 participants

Study design and methods

Design: Randomized, double-blind crossover pharmacokinetic study
Population: 18 healthy adults aged 18–65
Intervention: Immediate-release or extended-release melatonin 4 mg after an 8-hour fast
Outcome: Time to peak, peak concentration, elimination half-life, exposure, and short-term safety

Open research record ↗

2012

Mixed or qualifiedPMID 23129488 · ISRCTN05534585

Melatonin for sleep problems in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Diary-recorded sleep increased by 22.4 minutes and sleep onset occurred 37.5–45.3 minutes earlier, but actigraphy did not show a clear total-sleep increase and waking shifted about 30 minutes earlier. Behavior and family function did not significantly improve; adverse events were mild and similar over three months.

Published: 2012Duration: 12 weeks after standardized behavioral sleep advicen=146 participants

Study design and methods

Design: Phase III randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled multicenter trial
Population: 146 children aged 3 years to 15 years 8 months with neurodevelopmental disorders and severe persistent sleep problems
Intervention: Immediate-release melatonin 0.5 mg, titrated through 2, 6, and 12 mg, 45 minutes before bedtime versus placebo
Outcome: Total sleep time, sleep-onset latency, waking time, behavior, family function, and adverse events

Funding or conflict note: Supported by the UK Department of Health; the authors declared no relevant organizational support or financial relationships.

Open research record ↗

Unscreened discovery appendix—not evidence8 candidate publicationsSearch run: Aug 21, 2026

Complete for the displayed PubMed query at the search timestamp—not for all databases or every possible synonym. Candidates can be irrelevant, duplicate the same study, or report negative findings. They are never summed as evidence or participants until screened.

03 / SOURCES

Start with the source material

Official evidence overviewPubMed bounded human-evidence search Live PubMed discovery searchNational Library of Medicine

The live search is for discovery only. Search-result counts change and are not included in the audited totals above.

Recent PubMed discovery recordsDirect links to the first 12 records returned by the reproducible search. These are discovery candidates—not reviewed summaries or a count of supportive findings.

04 / EXPERT CONTEXT

Expert context—not evidence

Expert positions are dated context—not scientific evidence. They never raise the evidence status or become consensus by repetition.

No direct, source-verified endorsement is currently recorded. Research authorship or discussion alone is not treated as endorsement.