The EASY guide to deciding whether to try something for COVID

When you are choosing whether or not to do something for your health, take it EASY! All four factors - 1) Effects, 2) Access, 3) Safety, and 4) You – can help you make a decision.

Dave knew that people use melatonin to help with sleep, but he recently read that taking melatonin could help protect him from COVID too.¹ He used the EASY guide to help figure out if this makes sense for him:

Effects: Studies in cells and animals have found that taking melatonin might help prevent or treat a viral infection like COVID, but studies in humans have not been done. Melatonin is a hormone or chemical messenger in the body long thought of as the “sleep hormone” which regulates the body’s internal biological clock and improves sleep. Getting enough sleep is important for the immune system, the main system that protects against disease. This is one way melatonin might help fight infection and illness.^2-4 Studies in cells and animals found that melatonin regulates inflammatory chemicals in the body and might help protect against different viruses.⁵ Studies in humans showed that taking melatonin supplements may reduce some chemicals that make inflammation and in conditions with a lot of inflammation, people with higher natural levels of melatonin might have less severe illness.^4-8 Lower doses might be more helpful for sleep and minimize daytime sleepiness.⁹ Eating foods that contain melatonin like tart cherry juice have also been shown to improve sleep.¹⁰ Higher doses of up to 10 mg nightly for more than 12 weeks may be necessary to reduce inflammation.⁶ Longer term studies and studies on the best dose for infection or viral protection are needed.