A sleeping pill outscored melatonin once, yet reviews favour melatonin
In the one head-to-head trial, zolpidem was rated most effective but caused more side effects; across all trials, sleeping pills helped sleep without clearly easing jet lag.
What the study found
Zolpidem was rated above melatonin, yet reviews rank melatonin first
In the only trial to compare them, 137 travellers rated zolpidem, a sleeping pill, most effective, but it caused more side effects, from nausea to sleepwalking. Reviews weighing all the trials still rate melatonin highest: the pills improved sleep without clearly easing jet lag.
The caveat · Ranks the evidence, not the effect
A ranking says which treatment the evidence supports better, not how much it helps. Of the five studies a 2014 review accepted, three tested sleeping pills and one tested light. Melatonin's rating rests on the fifth, an earlier review of ten trials, graded low quality because doses and schedules varied. A later reading of the head-to-head found melatonin alone did not clearly lower overall jet lag.