New York Magazine asks: Will melatonin really help you sleep?
As light decreases your brain produces more of the hormone, working like an internal clock that tells you to hit the hay. But melatonin doesn’t necessarily help you stay asleep, says Andrew W. Varga, M.D., Ph.D., a sleep medicine specialist at NYU Langone Sleep Disorders Center and clinical instructor at the NYU School of Medicine. And if you take a supplement ten or 15 minutes before bed, it may decrease the time it takes to fall asleep, but the effects are mild.
