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Randomized trial · measured other health measures

One-dose trial in 64 healthy adults: melatonin shortened time to fall asleep

Pachimsawat and colleagues · Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2024

Original title: Exogenous melatonin's effect on salivary cortisol and amylase: A randomized controlled trial.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Melatonin shortened time to fall asleep by 7:04 min (p = .037) and added 24 min of sleep (p = .006). Morning cortisol was higher (p = .023). Main goal was stress hormones.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
64 people · healthy adult volunteers
What was tested
One dose of prolonged-release melatonin 2 mg at 8 pm vs placebo, each person tried both
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Daily amount
2 mg a day
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No conflicts declared; funder (Mahidol University) had no role.
Journal
Pharmacology research & perspectives, 2024
Source
PubMed record 38764237. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 64 people.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: sleep onset and sleep quality

    8

    2 benefit, 2 mixed, 4 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    2

    1 benefit, 1 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does melatonin help you sleep?”

A small effect, clearer in children.

Confidence: low. Based on 20 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Few other papers sit on the same step, so there is little to compare it with.

Other papers on the same step

See all 20 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads differed. The reviewer checked the abstract and kept the first read. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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