I’ve heard this before that common doses are unnecessarily high but why is that? Patents?
The help aiding sleep is only one function for melatonin. The reason for higher suggested doses is due to its anti-oxident function. From personal experience melatonin needs to be paired with vitamin e to really clear out over night. I take vitamin e as I get into bed right before I take a melatonin sublingual. Another benefit of melatonin is that it upregulates our insulin receptors.
They’re considered dietary supplements and not medicine, so they’re not meaningfully regulated in the way meds are.
> why is that
Why buy 1mg pill when you can buy 100mg pill?
Rather, lack of. Melatonin is over-the-counter, generic, badly understood by the people taking it and dosed according to personal preference which means marketing it is all abouy big numbers. Bigger number on package = more sales.