The secret to buying melatonin in UK shops & online – and everything else you need to know about this must-have sleep supplement

Have you heard of melatonin? If you've ever struggled with insomnia, or jet lag, you might have tried melatonin to help you sleep. Taken a couple of hours before bedtime, melatonin prompts you to drift off and helps reset your body clock. Perfect if you're someone who finds it hard to get to sleep. Or you're in a different timezone and want to avoid lying awake all night, and then falling asleep in your scrambled eggs at breakfast (true story). Want to try it? Of course, you do! But annoyingly, you can't buy melatonin in UK shops without a prescription. UNLESS it's topical (at least this used to be the case) – more on this later…

With an estimated 22% of the UK living with insomnia or other sleep problems, there's definitely a market for melatonin. And in the US, where you CAN buy it without a prescription, melatonin use has doubled every 5 years since 2012.

So what exactly is this must-have sleep supplement? How does it work? Are there any side effects? You'll find a helpful list of conditions that melatonin is a big no-no for here.

Why can't you buy melatonin in UK pharmacies or shops without a prescription?

Until 1995, you could stock up on as much melatonin in UK health food shops and chemists as you liked. That's because melatonin used to be classed as a 'nutritional supplement' and wasn't subject to the same regulations that medicines are. But the rules were changed to introduce some quality control, because lots of supplements didn't contain as much melatonin as they claimed, or even too much – yikes!

Now that melatonin is classified as a medication, you can only buy the tablets with a prescription from a doctor. There was a grey area where you could buy melatonin without a prescription in the UK if it was topical (creams, sprays, patches) but the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has clarified, ‘Products containing melatonin regardless of formulation or route of administration are considered to be Prescription only medicines (POM)’.

What is melatonin:

Melatonin is a natural chemical, that the pineal gland in your brain makes when it starts to get dark outside. Known as 'the sleep hormone, it works by telling your body that it's nighttime and to get ready for sleep. Levels are usually high in the evening, to help you drop off. They then decrease throughout the night, so that by morning you should be feeling more wakeful and alert.

Melatonin also helps to regulate your circadian rhythm, an internal 24-hour clock. Circadian rhythm is disturbed by things like: jet lag, changes in how much daylight there is (remember those long light summer nights, when you couldn't sleep?). Not spending enough time outside in natural light in the day. And getting too much blue or green light in the evenings from screens.

What might be affecting your natural melatonin levels?

Too much late-night screen time is often the main culprit. Especially if you're getting square eyes just before you usually go to sleep – peak melatonin-making time. Using an iPad at full brightness for two hours, for example, can significantly suppress melatonin levels. In an ideal world, try to stop using screens a couple of hours before you want to sleep. And turn off bright overhead lights too.

Make sure you get enough daylight in the morning and afternoon, to help program your body to produce melatonin for sleep at the right time of day. Even a brisk 20-minute morning walk outside, or sitting beside a sunny window during your lunch break can work wonders.

If you can't stop the bedtime box-set binges on your laptop (just one more episode! – we've all been there…), or you often have to work late, you might upset your melatonin production and find it hard to sleep. Don't panic though, this is where supplements can help, by getting you back into a healthy sleep cycle again. So what are your options if buying melatonin in UK shops and websites isn't a thing anymore?

Topical melatonin in UK or US-manufactured patches no longer available?

Don’t worry! There are plenty of options to boost your melatonin naturally and herbal patches to help you reset your sleep cycle. For a full run down, read our blog post here, covering what foods to eat and simple lifestyle changes that can make all the difference to your sleep.

Here are some top sleeping tips from neuroscientist Andrew Huberman:
1) View sunlight by going outside within 30-60 minutes of waking. Do that again in the late afternoon, prior to sunset.
2) Wake up at the same time each day and go to sleep when you first start to feel sleepy.
3) Avoid caffeine within 8-10 hours of bedtime.
4) If you have sleep disturbances, insomnia, or anxiety about sleep, try the research-supported protocols on the Reveri app.
5) Avoid viewing bright lights—especially bright overhead lights between 10 pm and 4 am.
6) Limit daytime naps to less than 90 min, or don’t nap at all.
7) If you wake up in the middle of the night (which is normal to do once or so each night) but you can’t fall back asleep, consider doing an NSDR protocol.
8) Keep the room you sleep in cool and dark and layer on blankets that you can remove.

Which patches that don’t contain melatonin can I use to help me sleep?

Can't get a decent night's shut-eye? You need the Tri Magnesium Night Complex on your bedside table. Studies have shown that magnesium can promote sleep by reducing the stress hormone cortisol, increasing the sleep hormone melatonin, and helping to regulate neurotransmitters in the central nervous system that aid sleep and relaxation. If needs be, couple this with our Sleep Aid for Kids/Adults a gentle, all-natural way to get your sleep cycle back on track, this patch contains the optimum nightly dose of natural sleep aids like Valerian root, skullcap, purple passionflower – studies show these help you get a good night's sleep, so you feel unstoppable the next day.

Patches are slow release – drip feeding the sleep inducing nutrients into your system. No more lying wide awake at 3 am, when the effects of your oral tablet have worn off.

Using a slow-release patch also helps to ensure that you're not giving your body one big dose (like you would with many oral supplements), which is more likely to trigger side effects. No stress, no problems, and lots of sound sleep (fingers crossed!).