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Melatonin Gives Some People Bizarre Nightmares—Are You One of Them?

Reddit is full of people claiming melatonin turns their sleep into a psychological thriller.

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For years, melatonin has been the default answer to every sleep problem. Can’t fall asleep? Take melatonin. Jet lag? Melatonin. Doomscrolling until 2 a.m. and now regretting your life choices? You guessed it: melatonin.

But lately, the internet has been filled with a different kind of melatonin conversation. Instead of praising the sleep solution for helping them drift off, people are swapping stories about the bizarre, hyper-realistic dreams they experienced after taking it. Some describe vivid nightmares, while others report stress dreams that feel so real they wake up exhausted. One Reddit user compared it to “watching a horror movie from inside your own brain.”

They’re not entirely imagining things though.

A 2024 review published in the journal Dreaming examined the effects of sleep-related supplements and medications on dream experiences and found that melatonin is associated with increased dream recall, more vivid dreams, and a greater likelihood of remembering emotionally intense dream content. Researchers noted that melatonin appears to influence REM sleep, which is basically the stage most associated with dreaming. This could explain why some users report unusually vivid or disturbing dreams after taking it.

Another 2024 review examining melatonin’s effects on........

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