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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Multi-Modal Home Sleep Monitoring in Older Adults
Published on: January 26, 2019
Cognitive effects of exogenous melatonin administration in elderly persons: a pilot study
Joel S Peck1, Daniel B LeGoff, Iqbal Ahmed
1University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, 1356 Lusitania Street, 4th Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.
Objective:
Given that circadian rhythm disruption is associated with impairments in cognitive performance similar to those found in age-related cognitive decline, the authors investigated whether exogenous melatonin administration would improve cognitive functioning in healthy elderly subjects.
Methods:
This double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study assigned 26 healthy elderly subjects to receive either melatonin 1 mg or placebo nightly for 4 weeks. Participants completed a sleep questionnaire and a battery of cognitive tests at baseline and at 4 weeks.
Results:
Melatonin administration improved reported morning "restedness" and sleep latency after nocturnal awakening, and also improved scores on the California Verbal Learning Test-interference subtest.
Conclusions:
Melatonin administration at a dose of 1 mg nightly may be effective in improving certain aspects of cognitive functioning and subjective reports of sleep quality in elderly subjects. It may prove to be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of age-related cognitive decline.
