Noticed vivid dreams and morning grogginess on melatonin – anyone else?

Posted by restlessemma in Safety & Side Effects - 3 points, 0 comments.

I’ve been experimenting with melatonin for a few weeks to see if it could tighten up my sleep onset and improve my HRV numbers. 3 mg immediate‑release about 30 minutes before lights out, then bumped to 1 mg after a week, and finally tried 3 mg for the last five nights. 3‑1 mg range helped shave off about 10‑15 minutes off my sleep latency and my HRV stayed steady around 62 ms.

At 3 mg I definitely fell asleep faster, but I woke up with pretty intense vivid dreams – the kind that feel like a movie – and a noticeable morning grogginess that lingered for about an hour. My Oura showed a slight dip in deep sleep percentage and my HRV dropped to the mid‑50s the next day. I cut back to 1 mg and the grogginess cleared, dreams toned down, and HRV bounced back.

Has anyone else seen a similar dose‑response with melatonin? Curious if the grogginess is mostly a dosing thing or if timing plays a bigger role.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.