New Study Raises A Red Flag On Consistent Melatonin Use

Heads up if you take melatonin to ward off insomnia. A just-released study is raising a red flag over the use of the sleep aid to a potential link of heart failure.

The American Heart Association says a review of medical records of tens of thousands of adults who took prescription melatonin for more than a year shows they had a higher risk of heart failure over 5 years compared to people who didn’t take it.

Doctor Phyllis Zee is the Director of circadian and sleep medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.. she says this wasn’t a well-controlled study so more research needs to be done before a conclusion can be made, “Honestly, I think the study brings up more questions, rather than necessarily answer. And it’s not a great control group, so I think it does speak to the fact that we do want and need to have more control studies. Frankly, it is a signal to us. We don’t understand the signal. We don’t understand the mechanisms, but there’s a small signal there.”

Both prescription and over the counter melatonin have the same active ingredients.

The study will be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025 later this month.

It is not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as full manuscripts in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.