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    Mayo Clinic Minute: Is melatonin the right sleep aid for me?

a sleeping woman in bed with medicine pills on a side tableWe spend roughly a third of our lives sleeping, but catching enough Zs isn’t always easy. Mayo Clinic Sleep Medicine Specialist Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler says adults should be shooting for seven to nine hours of shut-eye each night. Less than that, and your risk of cardiovascular problems, obesity, and even cancer can dramatically increase. But millions of Americans have trouble falling or staying asleep, so many turn to over-the-counter sleep aids. One of the most popular is melatonin.

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Morgenthaler explains what melatonin actually does for the body, and when it's appropriate to use to improve sleep. Ian Roth reports.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (0:59) is in the downloads. Read the script.

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