[anonytrary]

I think he did mean .5mg since 500ug is .5mg. Still, I'm a bit confused. The bottles I get come in doses of 10mg, I can't imagine taking even just two or three of them in a single night! On the other hand, I'd think 1/20th of my pill (.5mg) would be way too little. After reading this relevant paraphrase from the article:

> There have been few studies on sighted young people. One finds that 1 mg works but 0.3 mg doesn’t; this study is an outlier. Another study on 25yo found both to work equally. Another study on 22-24yo found that 0.3 mg worked better than 1.0. UpToDate and Mayo Clinic suggests using at most .5mg. John Hopkins’ experts almost agree: they say “less is more” but recommend 1-3 mg.

I wonder if I should actually start cutting my pills in 20ths now... The author goes on to say he personally thinks that .3mg is a good amount and anything beyond 1mg is too much.

Edit: Sorry for the edits, I read the article after I made my comment, then figured I'd share their answer since I asked the question myself.

[mkolodny]

> On the other hand, I'd think 1/20th of my pill (.5mg) would be way too little.

That's one of the key points of the article:

> “But my local drugstore sells 10 mg pills! When I asked if they had anything lower, they looked through their stockroom and were eventually able to find 3 mg pills! And you’re saying the correct dose is a third of a milligram?!”

> Yes. Most existing melatonin tablets are around ten to thirty times the correct dose.

[anonytrary]

Yes, I ended up reading the article after commenting (shame on me) and edited my answer to contain their answer. Sorry!

[tcoff91]

Honestly for me the ideal dose is 250ug. I take half of a Trader Joe’s 500ug pill.

Melatonin has a U shaped dose curve so you either need a tiny bit or a whole lot to be effective.

500ug leaves me groggy in the morning, 250 is perfect.

[CommieBobDole]

Oddly enough, I've found that anything much over 1mg doesn't seem to have much of an effect at all - it maybe makes me a little drowsy, but that's about it. On the other hand, .5mg more or less knocks me out and leaves me feeling sleepy for most of the next day. Seems almost like there's a threshold over which it loses effectiveness, but I don't know of any medical mechanism that would lead to that.

[mcguire]

I have been taking melatonin for a couple decades, due to severely delayed sleep. I haven't tried anything less than 3mg recently, but that has been very successful. 5mg or more have been too much, although I don't remember the specific problem.

[gh02t]

3 mg is also the sweet spot for me. More than about 5 makes me have really wild, restless dreams. I still sleep feel rested in the morning, but it's kind of like you spend the whole night half awake because the dreams are so vivid.

[papa_bear]

It is strange. I take the Trader Joe’s brand as well and even half of a 500mcg pill is enough for me, and sometimes feels as effective as a a 3mg of 5mg pill from a different brand. Not sure what to make of it, other than maybe all I need is a placebo.

[ericd]

I've found the same thing.