Natrol Melatonin 1 mg Fast Dissolve Tablets, Strawberry, 90 Count

Why it's worth it

Natrol's 1 mg fast-dissolve tablets are the right starting point for melatonin. The low dose is enough to nudge your body clock for jet lag or a late night, and it's far less likely to leave you foggy than the 5 and 10 mg bottles crowding the shelf.

More melatonin is not better melatonin. It's a timing signal, not a sedative, and the doses that work best in research are small. Most drugstore bottles sell 5 or 10 mg because a bigger number looks stronger, and the usual result is vivid dreams and a heavy head at 7 a.m. Starting at 1 mg means you find out whether melatonin helps you at all before you overshoot.

The tablets dissolve under your tongue in seconds — no water, no glass to refill at midnight, nothing to choke down. Natrol says they promote sleep in as little as 15 minutes, and owners generally describe onset in that ballpark rather than the hour a swallowed tablet takes. That makes them easy to fold into an existing bedtime routine instead of planning around.

From our review of 10 sleep aids and gadgets, by Eleanor Vance, Health & Beauty Editor

What we like

• +More melatonin is not better melatonin
• +The tablets dissolve under your tongue in seconds — no water, no glass to refill at midnight, nothing to choke down
• +This is the dose to reach for when the problem is your schedule rather than your night
• +It's drug-free, non-habit-forming and vegetarian, and the strawberry flavor goes down easily

What to know

• –One milligram genuinely isn't enough for some people, especially anyone already used to a higher dose
• –Melatonin also tends to work less well the longer you lean on it nightly