Melatonin Well-documented

Well-documented

Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.

5 corroborating sources

2 ROAs with full dose ladders

duration data present

toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)

Aliases: Circadin, Melatonine, Pineal hormone

Summary dose.wiki Erowid TripSit PsychonautWiki

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone produced by the pineal gland that regulates circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles. Commercial supplements often contain much higher doses than needed; effective doses start as low as 0.25 mg. Higher doses may increase next-day drowsiness and do not necessarily improve effectiveness.

Perspectives

“I took one tablet sub-lingually just before I lay down to sleep, and I slept very well. I was not tired the next day.”

— Alexander Shulgin, TiHKAL (with 2.5 mg, orally)

Dose Information source varies by route

ROA	Light	Common	Strong	Heavy
Oral	0.5-1mg	1-3mg	3-6mg	6mg+
Sublingual	0.5-1mg	1-3mg	3-6mg	6mg+

Light Common Strong Heavy

Sources

Oral

Dose ladder — PsychonautWiki

Sublingual

Dose ladder — Light: same as the Oral row (Drugs.Wiki, PsychonautWiki) · Common: same as the Oral row (Drugs.Wiki, PsychonautWiki, TripSit) · Strong, Heavy: same as the Oral row (PsychonautWiki); no source states these Sublingual figures

Onset, Duration & After-effects dose.wiki TripSit PsychonautWiki

ROA	Onset	Comeup	Peak	Offset	After Effects	Total
Oral	5-20 min	20-70 min	1-2 hrs	2-3 hrs	1-2 hrs	6-8 hrs
Sublingual	5-15 min	15-30 min	1-2 hrs	2-3 hrs	1-2 hrs	6-8 hrs

Tolerance

Build-up develops rapidly after a single use

Reset 7–14 days for baseline

Tolerance Decay

Half tolerance 7d Baseline ~14d

Clinically meaningful tolerance to nightly melatonin is not well established. Loss of effect is more often due to suboptimal timing, light exposure, or inappropriate formulation rather than receptor desensitization. Short breaks (several days) may restore perceived efficacy if habituation is suspected. Data quality is limited and largely anecdotal.

Effects Erowid

Aggregated from 66 single-substance Erowid experience reports; 65 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out

Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.

Positive Effects 5

43.9% –

37.9% –

9.1% –

7.6% –

6.1% –

Adverse Effects 5

34.8% –

13.6% –

9.1% –

7.6% –

4.5% –

Also reported in combinations. In the 65 Melatonin reports where another drug was taken too, 4 (6.2%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 0 (0.0%) a seizure and 1 (1.5%) psychosis. In the 66 single-substance reports: 4.5%, 1.5% and 1.5%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Melatonin alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.

Community Trip Reports

Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.

Erowid 4 reports 1 positive 1 neutral 2 cautionary visit

Saved My Life positive exp #74127

I have suffered from sleep problems for a very long time now, and I have tried just about everything. For year I tried things like Tylenol PM, Over-the-counter sleep aids, alcohol, drugs, and Prescription sleep medication. Every one of these had some sort of side effect that was unacceptable.

Great Aid, Pleasant Effects neutral exp #21635

I recently purchased a bottle of Sublingual Melatonin, in the 2.5mg per lozenge dosage. The first night I decided to use it, I was suffering from a moderately sleep-depriving sinus infection. I stuck 2 of the lozenges uner my tongue (orange flavor, muy bien!) and laid down.

The Reality from Behind Closed Eyelids cautionary exp #89425

I am seated at my computer desk. It is 3:11 AM, on the Saturday of January 24, 2011. I am typing up this report in order to hopefully somehow explain, even in the most clarifiable way what I experienced not ten minutes ago. At the moment my head feels cloudy; I feel very strange and not at all at ease. I am shocked.

PTSD Night Terrors cautionary exp #111803

To preface this experience with a background I am a former Marine Infantryman and I saw very heavy combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have never used illegal drugs or even tried to use legal ones to get high.

PiHKAL / TiHKAL Shulgin

TiHKAL #35: Melatonin

“I took one tablet sub-lingually just before I lay down to sleep, and I slept very well. I was not tired the next day.”

— Alexander Shulgin, TiHKAL (with 2.5 mg, orally)

Melatonin's nerd page Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more

→

Helpful Links

📘 Experience Reports 📖 dose.wiki 📖 TripSit 📖 PsychonautWiki

Add missing routes to PsychonautWiki Journal

The PsychonautWiki Journal app already has Melatonin, but its built-in entry only covers Oral. Here are the other routes we have data for. You can't edit a built-in substance, but you can add a Custom Unit for any of these routes to log it.

⬇ Download import file Import this file as custom substances and you get "Melatonin (Substance Search)" with every route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's developer. The manual values below work for older versions.

Custom Unit doses

Sublingualcommon ~ 2 mg

Dose & duration (reference)

Melatonin: routes the PsychonautWiki Journal app is missing
Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com)

Sublingual dose (mg): threshold 0.25 · light 0.5-1 · common 1-3 · strong 3-6 · heavy 6+

Sublingual duration: onset 5-15m · come-up 15-30m · peak 1-2h · offset 2-3h · total 6-8h · after-effects 1-2h

Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.

Custom Units carry a single dose per route, so the full ranges live in the reference above. A route's suggested dose is the midpoint of its common range. Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.

Report an issue or suggest an edit

Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Melatonin? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.

Melatonin Well-documented Well-documented Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects. 5 corroborating sources 2 ROAs with full dose ladders duration data present toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)