Melatonin for frequent night waking when I fall asleep easily?

[neverReallyasleep]

Ive never slept well. Extremely light sleeper. Waking every hour or so and always exhausted. The slightest noise or smell or anything really will also wake me. I feel like I never get into a deep sleep cycle.

I spoke to the GP who said that as I fall asleep ok there’s nothing wrong and no need to try medications . I feel like melatonin might help ? But he said it’s only for getting to sleep not staying asleep? Is it worth a try anyway?

I’m a light sleeper too. I often taken melentonin but that’s due to shift patterns making falling asleep difficult.

Being a light sleeper is often genetic and I’m not sure there is anything you can do to change it. Lots of little things help me like an eye mask, ear plugs etc. I also take magnesium. There is no one thing though that will fix it though and most things are trial and error to see what will help.

What does? Melatonin?

I'd be interested in hearing more about CBD drops for getting back to sleep, if anyone has experience ...

I'm autistic with ADHD and also struggle to sleep. I need to exercise intensively with weights almost every day in order to sleep properly and make sure I 'get my steps in' too. Other things that really help me:
Not eating past 6 pm and going to bed slightly hungry.
Plenty of fresh air.
Magnesium Glycinate.
HRT.
Sleepy tea.
A clean diet. I've noticed my brain is a lot calmer if I consume a moderate amount of healthy fats.

I get mine from the pharmacy when on holiday in Spain/France but some people on here mention buying it online from Biovea.

I’m similar to you with sleep OP, I’ve recently started taking a Magnesium supplement in the evening and my deep sleep has gone from about 20 mins a night to about 1 hour average according to my smart watch, I even got 1.5 hours the other night and felt like a new woman when I woke up!

You can buy it online from European pharmacies. Takes a few days to get here. I originally bought it when on holiday, now buy the same brand but on line.

600g of magnesium bisglycinate
Chamomile tea

And sometimes a Kalms one-a-night valerian

Melatonin doesn't help for this. I have tried many things and never found one that works unfortunately. Melatonin helps you get to sleep but not stay asleep. And you can't take it in the middle of the night if you can't get back to sleep as that sends wrong signals about your circadian rhythm that will screw your sleep even worse.

Have you tried swapping to the slow release tablets? DD had the same problem. We asked to change to slow release and she now stays asleep.

You can buy it from Amazon Spain using your UK account. I bought a jar of fairly low dose gummies; they took about a week to turn up.

It's no longer possible to buy melatonin online to be shipped to the UK, @Girlintheframe and @NoMumLeftBehindLiz. They've significantly tightened up on this in the last couple of months.

I got some from biovea recently

This is exactly what happened to me when I tried it. The quality of sleep when on it was not very good, the dreams I had on it were not pleasant and it didn't keep me asleep for a long time.

HRT improved my sleep more than anything. Also magnesium helps better than melatonin. Taking magnesium in the long term is a healthier option.

How recently, please?

January

It is available. It’s not criminal to buy online for personal possession, as melatonin is not a controlled drug.

I've just placed an order on Biovea - thank you @RoseField1. I'll wait to see if it is fulfilled. Piping Rock, iHerb, and HerbsPro have all stopped shipping to the UK entirely. The former two won't even show you the product if you are looking at their UK site.

There hasn’t been a new law banning online purchases of melatonin in the UK, but there has been a noticeable increase in enforcement and media attention in late 2025 and early 2026. A February 2026 Which investigation highlighted that melatonin was still being sold “illegally” on platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Temu, prompting regulators to issue warnings and push for stricter enforcement.

Are you peri? Progesterone at night has sorted my sleep right out

I have been told by my go that it is not addictive. Who told you it causes heart problems?

SSRIs are frequently prescribed for sleep and can be hellish to taper off. I’ve never found melatonin helpful for sleep, so I wouldn’t go to the trouble of getting it prescribed or ordering it online.

I am on a months holiday just now and had terrible bad insomnia for years that appears to be resolved. Main difference here is that I brought pack of 5-htp with me it’s a precursor of melatonin and you can get it off amazon. I wake about 3am and take one of them and put my hypnosis sleep meditation on. I now don’t get to end of tape before very deep sleep with vivid dreams (I don’t mind the dreams). I waken up completely refreshed. Obviously as I am on holiday I am out in the air and sunshine all day walking, running, swimming which might have helped as well. It is so good to have a holiday where you can resolve any difficulties you have and come home healthier!!

I’m exactly the same, OP. DH and I have to have single beds as I can even feel the rise & fall of him breathing.

I take magnesium glycinate, and for a long while this seemed to work, but just recently I’m waking up so frequently again, but I still think it has helped massively.

Ashwaganda made me extremely anxious (not about anything in particular, I just had butterflies and felt panicky which is very unlike me).

I also wear Soundcore sleep buds through the night which play brown noise (or any noise / combination of noises you prefer) and this has been the absolute best thing for me by far.

Not sure how accurate this is as just bought some last week from Pharmacy Club, 2 big tubs.

I discovered tbat earlier this year when I saw a post on here. I found a different site that I was able to order from (something like uk vitamin grocer but based in the US). I received those. Then I found out a friend was in the US for a holiday. I say friend, someone I know from a mutual hobby that I’ve met around a dozen times. I asked him if I could order my usual Melatonin to go to him, would he bring it home for me. He said yes, so I order 10 tubs of 200 of my usual ones (there’s 3 of us that take it) and got them sent to where he was staying on holiday. He and his wife kindly brought them home for me - I bought them a bottle of champagne to say thank you. They even opened 2 of the tubs to make it look like they were using them if they did get stopped at customs, which I thought was above and beyond.

Now I will just look out for people I know going to America each year and try to do similar, but just a years worth each time. Plus I’ve told my 18 year old he will have to start sourcing his own (he’s not in education) so I won’t need to get as much each time.