US study: Long-term use of the sleeping pill melatonin could increase the risk of heart damage. Experts warn against uncontrolled consumption.
Frankfurt – Anyone who has had trouble sleeping for more than just one night knows how torturous it is. An estimated ten to 25 percent of the population regularly suffers from sleep disorders. If herbal remedies like valerian don’t help and you don’t want to take chemical sleeping pills, you’ll quickly end up with melatonin. The endogenous hormone controls the day-night rhythm of the human body and makes you tired in the dark. Taken before bed as a dietary supplement or medication, it can shorten the time it takes to fall asleep. Melatonin is also helpful for relieving jet lag after long-haul flights. In Germany it is available without a prescription in a low dose, and in the USA also in higher doses.
But even this supposedly natural remedy can have side effects. While occasional unpleasant side effects such as daytime tiredness or headaches have been known for a long time, a recent study from the USA suggests an increased risk of heart damage as a possible consequence of long-term use.
Heart failure twice as common after taking melatonin
A research team from Kings County Primary Care in Brooklyn, New York analyzed data from the TriNetX network, which has access to anonymized electronic medical records in several countries, and filtered out 130,000 patients who had been prescribed melatonin for more than a year. It turned out that these patients were twice as likely to suffer from heart failure and were treated in a clinic more than three times as often as people who also suffered from sleep disorders but did not take melatonin.
Over a five-year period, 4.6 percent of people who took melatonin were diagnosed with heart failure, compared to only 2.7 percent in the control group. The American Heart Association recently criticized the often uncontrolled use of melatonin, even in high doses, in the USA. (pam)
date: 2026-02-10 19:01:00