1 to 3 milligrams, two hours before bed - the Johns Hopkins sleep guidance, on the principle that less is more: side effects (vivid dreams, grogginess, headache) scale with dose, and higher doses have no proven added benefit.
The two-hour runway matters because melatonin shifts the body clock rather than sedating you. Distrust the label: NCCIH-cited testing found bottles containing 74 to 347 percent of the stated amount, most of them over. Jet lag: same dose two hours before destination bedtime, starting a few days pre-travel. Needing ever-larger doses to sleep is not a melatonin problem - it is an insomnia workup waiting to happen. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, and can help you dial it in.
What to do
Common questions
How much melatonin should I take?
There is no official dose - melatonin is a supplement in the US, so no agency sets one - but sleep medicine has a working answer: less is more. Johns Hopkins sleep specialist Luis Buenaver advises 1 to 3 milligrams taken two hours before bedtime; that timing matters, because melatonin shifts your body clock rather than knocking you out like a sedative, so it needs the two-hour runway. Starting low makes sense for two reasons: side effects (vivid dreams, next-day grogginess, headache) scale with dose, and doses above a few milligrams have no proven extra benefit - your own pineal gland makes a fraction of one milligram. The label problem is real: when NCCIH-cited researchers tested bottles, actual content ran from 74 to 347 percent of the stated dose, with most over - so a 10mg gummy may deliver far more than you think. For jet lag, the Hopkins guidance is two hours before your target bedtime at the destination, starting a few days before travel. If you need escalating doses to sleep, the problem is not melatonin deficiency - it is worth a real insomnia workup. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, that can help you dial it in.