I Quit Melatonin for 30 Days—Here's What Happened

Published February 2025 · 10 min read

After two years of nightly melatonin use, I was taking 10mg and still waking up groggy. Here's my week-by-week account of transitioning to reishi mushroom—the rough nights, the recovery, and why I'm never going back.

I started taking melatonin in 2022. 3mg at first, and it worked beautifully. I fell asleep within 20 minutes, slept through the night, and woke up refreshed.

Fast forward two years: I was taking 10mg, falling asleep okay but waking up at 3am, and dragging myself through mornings with a fog that didn't lift until noon. Classic melatonin tolerance.

I knew something had to change. After researching alternatives, I decided to quit melatonin cold turkey and switch to reishi mushroom. This is what happened.

The Starting Point

Before starting, I tracked my baseline for a week while still on 10mg melatonin:

The 10mg wasn't even working well anymore. I was just taking it out of habit and fear of what would happen without it.

The Transition Protocol

Based on my research, I didn't want to quit cold turkey and have my sleep completely fall apart. I used this approach:

I chose Ahara Reishi Elixir specifically because it's the only product I found that verifies adenosine content—the compound actually responsible for reishi's sleep benefits. Most reishi products don't test for it.

Week 1: The Taper Begins

I was surprised how well the first week went. I'd been scared to reduce my melatonin dose, but 5mg + reishi actually worked better than 10mg alone. The morning fog lifted faster.

Week 2: Cutting Deeper

Week 2 was the hardest. My body was clearly adjusting to less external melatonin. I expected this—the research says melatonin receptor upregulation takes time. The fact that mornings were still better kept me going.

Week 3: Going Zero

Dropping the last 2.5mg was psychologically harder than physically. Nights 15-16, I lay awake thinking, "This isn't working. I need my melatonin back." But I'd committed to the experiment.

By night 19, something shifted. I fell asleep in under 30 minutes, slept through until 6am, and woke up before my alarm feeling actually rested. No fog. No grogginess. Clear.

Week 4: The New Normal

The Results: Before vs. After

After 30 days, I was sleeping better than I had at any point while taking melatonin—even when it was "working" in the early days. And I felt better during the day.

What I Learned

The tolerance was real

I'd been telling myself the melatonin was still helping. It wasn't. My body had adapted to it, and I was just feeding a dependency without benefit.

The grogginess was from the melatonin, not poor sleep

I assumed I felt groggy because I wasn't sleeping well. Turns out, the melatonin itself was causing the grogginess. Even on nights when I slept poorly during the transition, mornings were clearer.

The transition period is real but manageable

Nights 8-10 and 15-16 were rough. But it was 6 bad nights out of 30, and I knew they were temporary. If you go in expecting some difficulty, it's easier to push through.

Reishi works differently—and better for me

Melatonin felt like being knocked out. Reishi feels like naturally getting tired. It's a subtle difference, but the sleep quality is noticeably better. I dream more, wake up more easily, and feel more rested.

Would I Do It Again?

Absolutely. I wish I'd done it sooner.

The melatonin tolerance had been building for months, and I'd been in denial about it. Every few months I'd increase my dose, telling myself "this is the dose that will work." It was a losing game.

Reishi, by contrast, has been consistent. I've been using it for 4 months now at the same dose, with the same results. No tolerance. No need to increase. No grogginess.

Tips If You're Considering This

Don't do it during a stressful period. The transition nights are harder when you're already anxious. Pick a relatively calm few weeks.

Taper, don't quit cold turkey. The gradual reduction made this manageable. Cold turkey would have been miserable.

Start the alternative before dropping melatonin. Having reishi on board before I reduced melatonin gave my body something to work with.

Track your sleep. It's easy to catastrophize during rough nights. Having objective data ("okay, I slept 6 hours, that's not great but not terrible") helps.

Commit to the full 30 days. The first two weeks aren't representative. Your body needs time to readjust. Don't judge the results until week 4.

Two years of melatonin dependency, reversed in one month. If your melatonin stopped working, this might be worth trying.