Myth Buster: Don’t Panic Over One Frickin’ Study

Melatonin made headlines again this week—this time for supposedly increasing the risk of heart failure by 90 percent.

Cue the panic, the clickbait, and the sudden flood of patients ready to toss every bottle of sleep aid into the trash.

Let’s slow down.

Science Doesn’t Work on Panic

Real science isn’t built on a single data dump. It’s built on reproducibility—different teams, different patients, same results.
One study—no matter how big—only raises a question. It doesn’t answer it.

The research making the rounds came from an observational look at 130,000 people with insomnia.
The folks taking melatonin long-term seemed more likely to develop heart failure.
Interesting? Yes.
Proof? Nope.

They weren’t randomized.
They already had insomnia (a known heart-risk condition).
We don’t know their doses, their over-the-counter brands, or how accurate their medical coding was.

In other words, this study says, “Hey, we noticed something weird. Somebody should check this out.”
That’s how science starts—not how it ends.

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How This Should Actually Change Behavior

If you pop melatonin occasionally to reset after night shifts or travel, this isn’t your cue to panic.
If you’ve been taking 10 mg every night for years, maybe talk with your doc about whether you still need it.
Use data as information, not as doom.

The smarter takeaway is balance:

• Don’t treat any supplement like candy.

• Don’t assume “natural” equals “harmless.”

• And don’t change meds or supplements because of a single headline.

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What To Do Instead

• Talk to your provider before stopping or starting anything.

• Stay curious, not fearful. Ask why the data might look that way.

• Watch for follow-ups. If three or four future studies confirm the same link, then we have something real to chew on.

Until then, melatonin is still what it always was: a hormone your body already makes, sometimes helpful, sometimes over-used, rarely catastrophic.

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Bottom Line

Don’t stop taking melatonin—or any medication—because of one frickin’ study.
Science isn’t a headline. It’s a process.

Breathe. Sleep. Question everything—but don’t overreact.book

I write this and I don't even take Melatonin. Still, I'm smart enough to know that one study is not science. People tried to pull that tone on us during Covid, where one study showed masked present COVID, whan all it showed was that it reduced your risk for COVID a few percentage points. Be careful what you read.