Melatonin enhances next day performance and recovery 💤

Not just a sleep promoting agent.

Melatonin Supplementation Enhances Next-Day High-Intensity Exercise Performance and Recovery in Trained Males: A Placebo-Controlled Crossover Study

Study Details

This new crossover study recruited 12 trained males to ingest…

1️⃣ Melatonin (6mg)

2️⃣ Placebo

…the night before performing a 5m shuttle test 🛌

🩸 Blood markers

🫀 Peak heart rate

🧠 RPE

🔋 Perceived recovery

💥 DOMS

💤 Sleep / wake cycle

…were monitored during the study 🔍

Here is what they found ⬇️

Key Findings

Compared to placebo, melatonin led to significantly improved…

✅ Total distance covered during test

✅ Fatigue index

✅ Repeat sprint performance

✅ Peak heart rate

✅ Perceived recovery (up to 72 hrs post)

✅ Muscle soreness

Yet it did not affect sleep parameters or blood markers 🤔

Conclusion

Melatonin the night prior to exercise can significantly improve multiple markers of performance and recovery in trained males 💪

The benefits of melatonin may not be simply down to sleep improvements 🧬

Reference

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40559702/

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