Melatonin has been associated with a minor decrease in REM sleep among children, according to a study led by Dr. Alen Juginovic from the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. The research involved comparing overnight sleep recordings from 684 children, some of whom were taking melatonin and some who were not. While the overall sleep duration and other metrics such as breathing patterns and brief nighttime awakenings did not differ significantly between the two groups, the children on melatonin spent slightly less time in REM sleep, which is generally associated with dreaming.
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The study noted that children taking melatonin had a small reduction in the share of their sleep spent in REM. However, this difference was deemed minor and potentially not clinically relevant. Dr. Juginovic cautioned that this finding should be interpreted carefully, as the REM sleep reduction persisted after adjusting for psychiatric diagnoses but diminished when accounting for other sleep medications, indicating that confounding factors could influence the results.
The sleep patterns were recorded over a single night, with no longitudinal data on children continuously taking melatonin. Sleep architecture evolves with development, and the amount of REM sleep could be important for a child's brain development.
In light of these findings, Dr. Juginovic advised parents not to alter their child's melatonin use solely based on this study's results. He emphasized the importance of discussing dosage, timing, and necessity with a child’s physician instead of making independent changes.
While the study cannot conclusively establish the effects of melatonin, it provides insight into its usage among children. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health rates melatonin as safe for short-term use in children at ordinary doses, but there is still limited research on its long-term effects.
The results emphasized that apart from the slight decrease in REM sleep, melatonin does not appear to significantly alter overall sleep architecture among children, which is a reassuring point given its widespread use for sleep issues. The full study is published in the journal JAMA Network Open.