Long-Term Use of Melatonin Supplements May Have Heart Issues
A lot of people struggle to sleep. Whether it’s because of pain, stress, restless legs, or just a racing mind, falling asleep or staying asleep becomes hard. Because it’s easy to get, many people turn to melatonin supplements. They think: “It’s natural. It must be safe.”
Melatonin is a hormone our body normally makes. It helps regulate when we feel sleepy and when we wake up. When darkness falls, melatonin levels rise, helping us wind down. Many take melatonin to help with insomnia, shifting time zones, or sleep schedule changes.
But recent research suggests that using melatonin every night for a long time if it’s one of your main sleep aids and you’re also managing pain may carry risks. Let’s dig into the science, what it means for you as someone dealing with pain and sleep issues, and how physical therapy (PT) with a Texas manual physical therapist can help you sleep better without depending on nightly supplements.
What the Research Says About Long-Term Melatonin Use
A large study tracked over 130,000 adults diagnosed with chronic insomnia. Among them, over 65,000 had used melatonin for 12 months or more. The results:
- Long-term melatonin users had about 90% higher risk of a new heart-failure diagnosis over a 5-year period.
- Melatonin users were 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure.
Important note: These findings are associations, not proof of cause and effect. The study used health records and couldn’t fully control for everything (how much melatonin was taken, over-the-counter use, whether hidden heart problems existed).
Still, if you’re using melatonin often and also managing pain, this study is an important signal. You should really pay attention to what you are using long term and how it can affect your body.
Why Melatonin Seems Safe and Where the Risk May Lie
When used short-term, melatonin is generally safe. It can help you fall asleep or recover from jet lag. But nightly long-term use may disrupt your body’s own hormone cycle. Here’s why:
- The body naturally regulates melatonin. Taking it regularly may reduce your own production.
- Many supplements aren’t tightly controlled. Doses vary, and some include other ingredients.
- Melatonin affects blood vessels and body rhythms, including heart rate and blood pressure.
- People taking melatonin may also have untreated sleep disorders, like apnea, that raise heart risks.
So melatonin use might not cause heart problems directly, but it may signal deeper health issues and over time, add strain. That is why you should work with professionals like those at Move Empower Concierge Physical Therapy to determine what is causing your sleep issues instead of trying to put a bandaid over them.
Why Sleep Quality Matters When You’re in Pain
Pain and sleep are closely connected:
- Pain makes it harder to fall asleep or stay asleep. Overtime, this means you get less and less sleep each night.
- Poor sleep increases inflammation and makes your nerves more sensitive. That means you feel more pain on top of what you started with.
- Less sleep reduces your ability to heal from pain or injury. Which means constant pain that never goes away.
Over time, this becomes a cycle: poor sleep = more pain = worse sleep. And that’s when people often turn to supplements like melatonin. But they may be missing the root cause: how your body moves and rests.
What Physical Therapy Can Do to Improve Your Sleep Without Over-Using Supplements
Pain often makes it hard to sleep, but treating that pain with movement and alignment instead of supplements can lead to better long-term outcomes. Physical therapy offers tools and strategies that go beyond simple stretches or posture tips. It works with your whole body to lower pain, reduce stress, and prepare your nervous system for sleep.
- Movement and mobility to reduce pain before bed
Pain and stiffness in your back, hips, neck, or shoulders can keep you awake. PTs evaluate where your body holds tension and teach you targeted movements to release it. These might include nerve glides, gentle joint mobilizations, or soft tissue work. These movements are customized to your body and are designed to calm pain signals so you can fall asleep more easily.
- Postural alignment for better rest
How you sit, stand, and walk during the day affects how your body feels when you lie down. Poor posture can lead to imbalances and extra pressure on joints or nerves, especially at night. Physical therapists assess your posture and movement patterns and then correct the alignment that might be throwing your system off. For example, if your pelvis tilts forward too much, it could affect how your lower back feels when you lie flat and a PT can help you adjust that.
- Safe, sleep-friendly exercise
Exercise helps regulate your circadian rhythm which is your internal sleep-wake clock. But for people with chronic pain, the wrong type of activity can make pain worse. A PT guides you in choosing safe forms of aerobic exercise (like walking or cycling), strengthening routines, or calming evening movements that help your body feel tired in a healthy way without overstimulation.
- Mattress, pillow, and position advice
Physical therapists help you find the best sleep setup. That includes side-sleeping with a pillow between your knees to reduce hip strain, back-sleeping with support under your knees to reduce back pressure, or adjusting your pillow height to avoid neck strain. They also help you evaluate whether your mattress is too firm or too soft for your condition.
- Calming routines to help your nervous system relax
Chronic pain activates your nervous system, which keeps your body in a state of alert making sleep hard. Physical therapists teach calming routines that involve gentle breathing exercises, slow-paced stretching, or guided body awareness. These routines shift your body into a “rest and digest” mode, signaling it that it’s safe to fall asleep.
- Long-term strategies for sleep recovery
If you’ve been relying on supplements like melatonin, PT can offer a gradual way to rebuild your body’s own sleep rhythm. This might include timed movements during the day, breathing exercises at night, and education about how to reduce flare-ups. Over time, these changes support deep, natural sleep without needing nightly help from a pill. When you move throughout the day your body builds up a natural pressure to sleep called “sleep drive.” This is part of your circadian rhythm. People who are inactive, especially those in pain, often don’t create enough sleep drive to fall asleep easily or stay asleep. A physical therapist can help create a plan that increases daytime movement in safe, supported ways. This not only helps your body feel more physically ready for sleep, it also helps you stay asleep longer and reach deeper, more restorative stages of sleep.
How Sleep and Pain Affect Hormones
Pain and poor sleep don’t just affect how you feel, they also affect your hormones. When you sleep well, your body releases growth hormone, which helps repair tissues. Good sleep also balances cortisol (a stress hormone), insulin (which manages blood sugar), and leptin (which helps control hunger). But when pain keeps you up or your sleep is broken, these hormone levels get out of balance. Over time, that can make it harder to heal, make you more sensitive to pain, and even affect your heart health. Physical therapy helps by reducing pain and stress so your body can return to a more balanced state. This helps your hormones do what they’re supposed to do to support healing, reduce inflammation, and keep you healthy.
Deep sleep is when your body does the most repair work. During this stage, your muscles recover, your immune system strengthens, and your brain clears out waste. If you’re in pain, your body may never reach this deep sleep phase. Even if you fall asleep, pain can keep you in light sleep which doesn’t give your body the same recovery benefits. Over time, this makes pain worse. You wake up feeling stiff, tired, and foggy. That’s why improving sleep quality through physical therapy matters. A PT helps you reduce discomfort, move better during the day, and find positions that allow your body to relax fully at night. This improves your chance of getting the deep sleep your body needs to truly heal.
Melatonin may seem like a simple fix for poor sleep. But using it night after night may carry long-term risks, especially for your heart. If you’ve been using melatonin for months or years, it’s time to think about why and whether your body needs more support.
Physical therapy can help you sleep better by treating the real sources of pain, discomfort, and stress in your body. You don’t have to rely on pills or supplements. Better sleep comes from better movement, posture, and rest and PT can help with all of that.
Small changes make a big difference. Tonight, try adjusting your sleep position or adding a 5-minute stretch routine. With support and consistency, your body can rest and heal naturally.
If you want long-term relief, schedule a FREE discovery session to start working with our team.