If you’re like most athletes I coach, you’ve probably turned to melatonin as your go-to sleep aid, especially if you train in the evenings or generally have trouble getting enough sleep.

For years, melatonin was heralded as the natural solution to help you get to sleep faster.

Unfortunately, as new research emerges, what once seemed liked a harmless, natural solution might actually be working against your athletic goals in ways you never expected.

So, in this article we’re going to breakdown the research on how melatonin actually works. You’ll learn…

• The hidden performance problems – How melatonin disrupts the specific recovery processes that make you faster and stronger
• The dependency trap – Why your natural sleep systems get worse the longer you use supplements
• Evidence-based alternatives – Four proven strategies that optimize your body’s own sleep mechanisms (you can implement these tonight)

By the end, you’ll have a complete roadmap for achieving deeper, more restorative sleep without the negative impacts on your training adaptations and hormone production.

The Hidden Problems with Melatonin

Despite it being a natural solution, regular melatonin use can actually impair the very physiological processes that make you faster and stronger.

The main issue is that when you take melatonin regularly, your body begins to downregulate its natural melatonin production, creating a dependency cycle that leaves you worse off than when you started.

Research shows that exogenous (external) melatonin supplementation can suppress endogenous (natural) melatonin production by up to 50% within just two weeks of regular use [1].

Basically, what happens is like training your body to forget how to produce its own sleep hormone.

The more you rely on external melatonin, the less capable your pineal gland becomes at manufacturing the precise amount and timing your body needs for optimal recovery.

But the dependency issue is only part of the problem.

Studies have shown that melatonin supplementation can significantly alter your natural cortisol rhythm, which is crucial for athletic adaptation and recovery [2].

When your cortisol patterns become disrupted, your body’s ability to respond to training stress and build fitness becomes compromised.

How Melatonin Disrupts Recovery

So now that we understand why using melatonin can be a difficult habit to break that only intensifies the more you use it, let’s look at why needing increasing amounts of melatonin may be interfering with your training

Reduces growth hormone production

The first evidence-based concern for athletes is how external melatonin supplementation interferes with growth hormone production.

Growth hormone is released in powerful pulses during deep sleep stages, and it’s absolutely critical for muscle repair, tissue regeneration, and athletic adaptation.

Unfortunately, research demonstrates that exogenous melatonin can disrupt the natural timing and amplitude of growth hormone release [3].

This happens because melatonin affects the intricate dance between your circadian rhythms and the hormonal cascades that drive recovery.

When you artificially manipulate melatonin levels, you’re essentially throwing off the entire orchestration of recovery hormones.

Disrupted temperature regulation

Studies show that melatonin significantly affects your body’s core temperature regulation, which can interfere with both sleep quality and athletic performance [4].

Melatonin causes a rapid drop in core body temperature, which sounds good for sleep initiation.

However, this artificial temperature manipulation can disrupt your body’s natural thermoregulatory processes that are essential for temperature control during exercise.

For athletes, this creates a particularly problematic scenario.

Your body needs to maintain precise temperature control during training and competition, but regular melatonin use can impair these natural mechanisms.

Research indicates that athletes using melatonin supplements show altered heat dissipation responses during exercise [5].

The practical takeaway is clear…

Instead of relying on direct melatonin supplements that disrupt your natural temperature regulation, focus on creating optimal sleep temperature conditions naturally through your environment and pre-sleep routine.

Evidence-Based Alternatives That Actually Work

Okay, we now know that consistent melatonin use isn’t the best way to help us improve our sleep quality.

But, with sleep being so critical, how do we actually fall asleep faster and improve our sleep quality?

Increase morning light exposure

The first evidence-based strategy is optimizing your natural melatonin production through light exposure management.

This sounds “sciencey” but it really just means getting more sunlight in the mornings and evenings.

Research shows that consistent morning light exposure increases natural melatonin production by up to 30% in the evening [6].

Moreover, early morning sun increases early-day cortisol release (the ideal time for elevated cortisol) and prepares the body for sleep later that night.

A morning spike in cortisol will also positively influence your immune system, metabolism and ability to focus during the day.

Later in the day, try to get outside in the afternoon.

The particular wavelengths of the sun when it is low in the sky (yellows and oranges, in contrast with blue) come through even if it’s overcast.

Sunlight viewed in the late afternoon/evening communicates to the brain’s circadian clock that it is evening and time to begin the process of transitioning to sleep that night.

Also, on the occasional day you miss getting outside early in the morning, the afternoon sunlight serves as a second “anchor point” for your brain and body to know the time/season, in order to maintain the consistency of your circadian clock.

Here’s what you need to do

Get 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight within the first hour of waking, preferably before 9 AM.

Then try to do the same in the afternoon, around sunset.

This simple practice helps reset your circadian clock and ensures robust natural melatonin production when you actually need it—at bedtime.

Eliminate Blue Light

The second critical element involves eliminating blue light exposure 2-3 hours before bed.

You’ve likely heard this advice before, but how often do you consciously put it into practice?

This is one of those “easy and cheap” things you can do to dramatically improve sleep quality if you put your mind to it.

Studies demonstrate that even small amounts of blue light can suppress melatonin production by up to 85% [7].

This means your phone, TV, and computer screens are literally preventing your body from producing the sleep hormone it needs.

Moreover, blue light has been shown to trick our brain into thinking it is still daytime, disrupting circadian rhythms and leaving us feeling alert instead of tired.

Here’s what you need to do

Be conscious for a few days or a week or two of how much time you spend in front of your devices before bed and track how much your sleep improves.

I am willing to bet you’ll see a huge improvement in sleep markers with just this change.

Keep Your Bedroom Cold

Your body’s ability to regulate your body temperature plays a critical role during sleep.

This is because your sympathetic nervous system is less excited and calmer in cooler conditions, especially during sleep.

Creating a cool sleep environment (65-68°F) also enhances natural melatonin production and improves sleep onset time by an average of 13 minutes [8].

Moreover, body temperature increases are one of the main reasons you may wake up at night.

Increase Melatonin Naturally

While we’ve seen the hidden drawbacks of supplementing directly with melatonin, there are supplements we can use that help our bodies produce more natural melatonin.

Magnesium

Magnesium helps convert serotonin (a neurotransmitter in the brain) into melatonin.

It acts as a cofactor for enzymes in this conversion process, particularly helping activate the enzyme that facilitates this transformation in your pineal gland.

Magnesium also helps regulate your body’s internal clock by influencing the part of your brain that controls circadian rhythms. This helps ensure melatonin is released at the right times.

L-theanine

L-theanine is an amino acid found primarily in tea leaves that promotes relaxation by increasing levels of calming neurotransmitters like GABA, serotonin, and dopamine in the brain.

This creates a relaxed but alert state, reducing stress and anxiety without causing drowsiness.

While L-theanine doesn’t trigger melatonin production itself, it may support your natural melatonin rhythm by:

• Reducing stress and anxiety – High stress and cortisol can suppress melatonin production. By promoting relaxation, L-theanine may help remove barriers to normal melatonin release
• Improving sleep quality – L-theanine can help you fall asleep more easily and achieve deeper, more restorative sleep, which supports healthy circadian rhythms
• Calming racing thoughts – By quieting mental chatter before bed, it may help you wind down naturally when melatonin levels should be rising

Ashwaganda

Like L-theanine ashwagandha supports better sleep by regulating the balance between the stress hormone cortisol and melatonin.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that works in direct opposition to melatonin.

The more cortisol you produce, from stressors like work, family and even the training you do, the more alert and awake you’ll feel at night.

By lowering cortisol levels, ashwagandha helps create a more favorable environment for melatonin to be produced naturally in the evening.