Question: Is 20mg of melatonin too much for me?

Short Answer: Depends on what you’re taking it for.

Melatonin has become extremely popular over the years. Just take a look at the Google Trends image below. This is for the term melatonin worldwide from 2004 to 2024.

The reason for the progressive interest in melatonin over the years has been the adaptation of technology with blue lit screens. The average time an American spends looking at a screen per day is roughly 7 hours and 4 minutes.

Human beings were never meant to look into a light source for extended periods of time. It’s the most unnatural thing you can do.

Since we know that blue light suppresses melatonin, is it a coincidence that as we become more addicted to technology the more sleep problems we have? Did I connect too many dots here?

When you combine this with the fact that melatonin is regulated through exposure to sunlight AND  we now only spend 3.7 hours per day outside receiving this light, this becomes  a recipe for insomnia. I’ve seen some studies showing over 90% of our time is spent indoors.

This is a one way ticket to poor sleep and poor health.

Either way, we’re spending too much time indoors and not enough time outdoors.

My suspicion is that with the invention of the internet, then cell phones, social media and now AI and devices like Apple Vision Pro, we’re going to continue to sleep less and be sicker.

Melatonin is not just a sleep hormone, but it’s our number one anti cancer hormone we make. It literally keeps us from getting cancer.

Have you noticed cancer rates going up? I wonder why.

So what does all this mean?

It means that as we spend more time indoors looking at blue lit screens that lower our melatonin, we’re also not outside where UVA and UVB radiation from the sun can help create serotonin which converts to melatonin.

More time indoors looking at screens means we’ve got broken circadian rhythms which is the result of making less melatonin because we are not outdoors.

Quick hacks for this.

• Open windows
• Wear blue blocking glasses (yellow) when indoors during the day
• Use Iris Tech on all your devices
• Set your phone to orange mode
• Go outside often during the day (even for 1 minute)
• If you have to use your phone, go outside and use it

Why You May Want To Question The General Recommendations

Farmers in the 1930s complained to Congress that our soils were depleted of minerals. That was almost 100 years ago and our soils are still deficient. I don’t think the people that run our government or health care systems really want us to be healthy. If they did, they would have fixed our soils 100 years ago.

Let’s talk a little bit about “recommended doses” from “experts”. I want to highlight two key nutrients before I talk about the recommended dosage of melatonin.

Nutrient #1

Did you know that the RDA for copper is less than 1mg? Yet we know that copper is necessary to regulate iron overload which causes oxidation throughout our entire body. Iron + oxygen = rust. They’ve been adding iron to our food supply through the “Iron Fortification Project” for decades. At the same time, they’re telling us to eat less copper.

We absolutely need more copper.

Copper in the presence of 13 cis retinoic acid (Vitamin A from animal tissue) will be able to transport copper molecules to ceruloplasmin. Ceruloplasmin is able to mitigate oxidation from iron being stuck in tissue.  It’s kind of weird. It’s almost like they want us sick.

1mg of copper per day is not enough to offset disease in my opinion.

Nutrient #2

Let’s take ascorbic acid or vitamin C as another example. The RDA for vitamin c is roughly 75mg for women and 90mg for men. That’s barely enough to prevent scurvy.  The RDA is the minimum amount of a substance that will keep you alive. The RDA is meant to keep you alive enough to keep paying taxes but sick enough to keep taking your medications.

As a side note, doctors who follow the standard of care accidentally kill 440,000 people per year. Could you imagine if melatonin did that? I’m not really that interested in RDA levels coming from government agencies.

They’re not the kind of people I trust for my health.

So that was to lay the groundwork about melatonin recommendations.

What is the Recommended Dosage of melatonin?

The average adult will take anywhere from 1 to 5 milligrams per night. You should always check with your doctor (because I have to say that) but I take 50mg per night. I know of people who take 180 mg per night and there are even folks taking up to 1,000 mg per night.

I’ll embed those Youtube videos down below. I highly encourage you to watch them all.

The reason is because yes melatonin can help you to fall asleep but melatonin is more of a circadian rhythm regulator than a sleeping pill.

Melatonin appears to help you stay on track with your circadian rhythms but it also has an incredible impact on other biological processes.  It appears to help with lowering oxidative stress, reducing impact from radiation and even helping with blood sugar levels and protecting against cancer.

I wonder if the people in charge know all this and scare you from taking higher doses of melatonin.

Is 20mg of melatonin too much? In my opinion DEFINITELY NOT. But you should always check with your doctor first before taking any supplement or medication.

FAQs About Melatonin

When Should I Take Melatonin?

I recommend taking it shortly after sunset and another dose about 1 hour before bed. Just note that when you take melatonin depends on the light environment you are exposed to. I don’t recommend taking melatonin if you’re using regular lights like LED or fluorescent lights in your home. If you’re using special circadian lights like I do, then it’s a healthier environment to take exogenous melatonin.

Is Melatonin Safe For Pregnancy?

Because these are health related topics I cannot give health advice over the internet. So I would check with your doctor and do your own research.

What is the Maximum Dose of Melatonin?

I mentioned before that people are scared to take 20mg of melatonin yet there are other folks taking hundreds of milligrams per day. Some people take over 1,000 milligrams per night. If you want the slides for the second video from the top, they can be found here.

We know that as we age, we produce less melatonin. Right now I’m taking 50mg per night and am slowly over time going to work my way up to 200mg per night. The reason I’m doing this has nothing to do with sleep, although sleep may heal almost ever disease. I’m doing it for longevity and maintaining my health into my older years.

I want to feel good, sleep well and have energy when I’m older and I believe melatonin will help me do that.

Why Doesn’t Melatonin Work For Me

If melatonin has not worked for you there could be a number of reasons. Here are some.

• You took too much too soon
• You took it too early in the night
• You were exposed to blue light after taking it
• You looked at a screen after taking it
• You didn’t make it via sun in the day but only took a supplement (you need to do both)

Does Melatonin Expire?

Yes each company has a date by which it should be used. They’re all different based on how they’re made. Some melatonin is in a powder form and would expire more quickly, while other are in a compressed tablet form which should last longer. Other supplement companies will encapsulate their melatonin supplements which would make them last even longer. There are even gummies with melatonin in them. My recommendation for you would be to read the label on the bottle and follow what it says.

My recommendation for me is that even if the melatonin has expired, I’ll still feel safe taking it. But always check with your doctor first.

Conclusion

Is 20mg of Melatonin Too Much. For me it’s not. I take much more than that and plan to keep going higher.

Questions

1. Do you take melatonin?
2. If so, how much do you take?
3. If you’ve tried it, has it worked?
4. Did you that it does much more than help you sleep?
5. If you haven’t tried melatonin yet, after read this, are you considering it?

Comment below.