Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Book

Melatonin

Rosemary A. Savage  1 , Nowera Zafar  2 , Sandesh Yohannan  3 , John-Mark M. Miller  1
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
Affiliations
Free Books & Documents
Book

Melatonin

Rosemary A. Savage et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Endogenous melatonin is a naturally produced hormone primarily synthesized and secreted in the pineal gland. Melatonin regulates the body's sleep-wake cycles by interacting with the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and the retina. The best-known purpose of melatonin is its role in promoting sleep and inhibiting wake-promoting signals through interactions with its MT1 and MT2 receptors. Although melatonin is not officially approved for any indication by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, exogenously supplied melatonin, which is available as a synthetic dietary supplement, mimics the regulatory functions of endogenous melatonin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Rosemary Savage declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Nowera Zafar declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Sandesh Yohannan declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: John-Mark Miller declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

    1. Neubauer DN. A review of ramelteon in the treatment of sleep disorders. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2008 Feb;4(1):69-79. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Neubauer DN. Tasimelteon for the treatment of non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. Drugs Today (Barc) 2015 Jan;51(1):29-35. - PubMed
    1. Ferracioli-Oda E, Qawasmi A, Bloch MH. Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders. PLoS One. 2013;8(5):e63773. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Auger RR, Burgess HJ, Emens JS, Deriy LV, Thomas SM, Sharkey KM. Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Intrinsic Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders: Advanced Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder (ASWPD), Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder (DSWPD), Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Rhythm Disorder (N24SWD), and Irregular Sleep-Wake Rhythm Disorder (ISWRD). An Update for 2015: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2015 Oct 15;11(10):1199-236. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Howell M, Avidan AY, Foldvary-Schaefer N, Malkani RG, During EH, Roland JP, McCarter SJ, Zak RS, Carandang G, Kazmi U, Ramar K. Management of REM sleep behavior disorder: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023 Apr 01;19(4):759-768. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources