Impact of an over-the-counter "sleep lotion" on human salivary melatonin levels and sleep quality: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare the impact of a commercial "sleep lotion" versus a placebo control lotion on salivary melatonin and sleep quality.

Methods: The presence of melatonin in the lotion was confirmed and quantitated with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). In this randomized, controlled, double-blind crossover trial, undergraduate student participants applied lotions on two separate nights and we quantitated melatonin in saliva samples with enzyme linked immunosorbent assays.