When You Take Melatonin Every Day, This Is What Happens To Your Blood Pressure
Traveling back and forth between time zones can mess with your circadian rhythm, which is your internal clock that regulates functions like your sleep/wake cycle, metabolism, and immune system. That could make you feel exhausted during the day and wreck your ability to make important decisions. Melatonin is the hormone that helps regulate your circadian rhythm.
Your body makes its own melatonin, and it's secreted when the lights begin to dim. If you experience a temporary disruption to your circadian rhythm, you can take a melatonin supplement to reset your body clock. In the short term, melatonin can help you get to sleep. Although taking melatonin every day is generally considered to be safe, it doesn't address potential sleep disorders or mental disorders that interfere with your sleep. Some people might experience side effects from melatonin, like headaches, dry mouth, night sweats, or depression. A surprising effect of taking melatonin every day might be lower blood pressure.
Melatonin reduces nighttime blood pressure
There are two types of melatonin supplements. Immediate-release melatonin goes to work right away at resetting your body clock. Meanwhile, delayed release melatonin works a little more slowly and sustains your melatonin levels a little longer. A 2011 meta-analysis in Vascular Health and Risk Management found that immediate-release melatonin didn't affect nighttime blood pressure. Controlled release melatonin reduced the nighttime systolic blood pressure by 6 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic by 3.5 mmHg. Nighttime blood pressure is more closely associated with negative health effects, according to a 2023 article in the American Journal of Medicine. People with normal high blood pressure during the day could have high nighttime blood pressure.
Melatonin can also reduce temporary high blood pressure in healthy adults who eat a high-sodium diet, according to a 2023 article in the American Journal of Physiology. The study had people eat almost 7,000 milligrams of sodium each day for 10 days, and half of them took a 10-milligram melatonin supplement. Although the melatonin didn't affect their 24-hour blood pressure, it reduced their nighttime blood pressure.
Sleep schedule is linked to your blood pressure
Researchers aren't quite sure why melatonin affects blood pressure. According to a 2014 study in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, some types of hypertension are linked to inflammation in the central nervous system. Melatonin can boost antioxidant enzymes to fight free radicals and protect your cells. Per a 2024 article review in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, melatonin regulates the pathways that control blood pressure.
A regular sleep routine might help control your blood pressure, and melatonin can be one of the tools to get your sleep schedule on track. A 2023 study in Hypertension found that people who got an inconsistent amount of sleep each night had up to a 17% higher risk of high blood pressure. Bedtime variations of 34 minutes each night meant a 32% higher risk of hypertension. It can be worse if you go to bed a little later on the weekends. A 90-minute later bedtime (or any 90-minute variation in your sleep schedule) could increase your risk of high blood pressure by 92%.