Melatonin May Raise Heart Failure Risk by 90% — Here’s What Doctors Want You to Know

🗞️ The Modern Scroll: Health Chronicle Edition
Headline: Melatonin Use May Raise Heart Failure Risk by 90% — Doctors Urge Caution

Dateline: New York, November 2025 — When a good night’s sleep comes at a hidden cost.

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You’ve probably seen melatonin bottles lined up in every pharmacy aisle — small, harmless-looking capsules promising peaceful sleep. But a new study from the American Heart Association (AHA) is making doctors pause before calling it “safe for everyone.”

According to research presented this week, long-term melatonin users — people who take it for a year or more — showed a 90% higher risk of developing heart failure compared to those who didn’t use it.

That’s not all:
📊 They were also 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure.
☠️ And their risk of death from any cause was almost double that of non-users.

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💊 Why This Matters

Melatonin isn’t a villain. It’s a hormone your body naturally produces to regulate sleep. The concern begins when people depend on high-dose supplements for months or years — sometimes without medical advice.

Experts believe the issue isn’t just the supplement itself, but the unregulated doses, inconsistent purity, and possible interactions with other medications. In the U.S., melatonin is sold over-the-counter, which means anyone can buy and use it — often assuming “natural” means “risk-free.”

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🩺 What Doctors Are Saying

Dr. Ekenedilichukwu Nnadi, who led the study at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, said the findings were “unexpected and concerning.”

“Melatonin has a reputation as a harmless sleep aid, but we’re learning that long-term use may carry risks, especially for those with heart conditions or high blood pressure.”

This doesn’t mean you should panic or throw away your melatonin bottle tonight. Occasional use — a few nights a week, short-term — appears safe for most people. The red flag goes up when it becomes a nightly habit for months or years.

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🌙 What You Can Do

As a healthcare provider, here’s what I recommend:

• Pause and reflect: How long have you been taking melatonin nightly?

• Check in with your doctor: Especially if you have diabetes, hypertension, or heart issues.

• Explore natural sleep strategies: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), better sleep hygiene, and light exposure management can often help more safely.

• Don’t self-medicate long-term: What helps for a few sleepless nights might not be harmless in the long run.

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🧠 Editor’s Reflection

In a world where everyone’s chasing better sleep, melatonin seemed like a simple fix — a friend in a bottle. But even good friends need boundaries. The heart and the sleep cycle are delicate partners; when one falters, the other often follows.

So, before you pop that next pill, remember: your body already makes melatonin naturally. Sometimes, all it needs is time, patience, and a darker room — not another dose.