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The meta-analysis showed that melatonin will only increase total amount of sleep by 3.9 minutes on average and increase sleep efficiency by 2.2%. This is considered a weak effect, and it does not help you stay asleep. I would recommend a sleep stack over melatonin if you are looking to improve sleep quality.

This should not be considered medical advice. Follow Dr. Huberman's instructions and consult your physician before changing your protocols.

References

Dr. Matthew Walker: The Science & Practice of Perfecting Your Sleep @ 01:44:33

Well, melatonin in defense of what you're saying, and also I should mention, I have a colleague at Stanford, Jamie Zeitzer. Oh, wonderful. Chuck Zeitzer's lab at Harvard Med, where he also trained a terrific sleep researcher. And I asked him about melatonin, and he essentially said the same thing that you just said, which is very little, if any, evidence that it can improve sleep.

Dr. Matthew Walker: The Science & Practice of Perfecting Your Sleep @ 01:43:47

And what that meta-analysis told us is that melatonin will only increase total amount of sleep by 3.9 minutes on average. Minutes, not even percent. And it will only increase your sleep efficiency by 2.2%. So it really- This is as they say in certain parts of California, that's weak sauce. That's a weak sauce effect.

Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing @ 01:16:34

Every once in a while, that just so happens. Nobody's perfect. Certainly I'm not. But that sleep stack can be very beneficial. And I do think that it's preferable to melatonin. Here's the reason. First of all, melatonin is a hormone that you endogenously make. You now know a lot about melatonin and its control by light, meaning light inhibits it or eliminates it, darkness promotes it.

Find Your Temperature Minimum to Defeat Jetlag, Shift Work & Sleeplessness @ 00:49:40

It does not help you stay asleep. In addition to that, melatonin has been kind of touted as the best way to shift your circadian clock. I'm happy to go on record saying, look, if you need melatonin and you can work with a doctor or somebody who really understands circadian and sleep biology, go for it if that's your thing.

Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing @ 01:16:57

And melatonin indeed can help us fall asleep. But the dosages of melatonin that are contained in most commercial products is far, far, far greater than what we would make endogenously. So it's really supra physiological. So that's of concern because melatonin is not just responsible for making us sleepy and fall asleep, it also does things like interacts with other hormone systems, testosterone and estrogen, even in the puberty system in kids.