Apparently there’s no evidence that melatonin itself makes dreams more vibrant or intense. It is a hormone naturally produced by the body. It could just be that you’re sleeping deeper and spending more time in REM state. My personal experience is that I have very intense dreams when I take melatonin and they will get more intense each night in a row I take it. So I never take it more than 3 nights in a row.
Discussion
Yeah, good point
I only use it in extreme cases, and mostly just to nudge my sleeping schedule a bit
When I take it I add in other things to improve my sleep hygiene. Like I don’t look at devices after I take it, at most I read a physical book. I get up early and expose myself to natural light first thing. I normally either completely cut out caffeine and alcohol or minimize it as much as possible as both can be disruptive to sleep. Open to any other ideas too. Especially in regard to using melatonin to help shorten jet lag.
When I use it to compensate for jet lag, I find it works best I limit my attempted shift to about 3–4 hours at a time. So, attack a trans-Atlantic trip in two sleeps, for example. I’ve got no science to back that up, just trial and error.
