The science of clocking out.
Night shifts work against your body clock. Here’s what the research says, and how we built Clocked Out around it.
Your body clock never signed up for nights.
About 1 in 4 shift workers live with insomnia or heavy sleepiness linked to their rota. Then morning daylight on the drive home switches off melatonin, just as you need to sleep.
Pallesen et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2021 · Lewy et al., Science, 1980.
Swallow a melatonin tablet and only 2.5% reaches your bloodstream.
The rest is broken down by your gut and liver before it ever circulates. That’s a lot of melatonin you paid for and never got.
Average for a swallowed 10mg tablet. Andersen et al., BMC Pharmacol Toxicol, 2016.
Pills take the long way. Strips take a shortcut.
- Mouth
- Stomach
- Gut
- Liver
- Blood
- Tongue
- Mouth lining
- Jugular vein
- Blood
Route shown for melatonin absorbed through the mouth. Some of any strip is still swallowed, and absorption hasn’t been measured for Clocked Out specifically.
The thinnest door in your body. The lining under your tongue is just 100–200 micrometres thick, about the width of a couple of hairs, with none of the tough outer layer your skin has.19
Right beneath it sits a dense web of tiny blood vessels. They drain into the jugular vein and straight into circulation, with no trip through the stomach or liver first. It’s why some fast-acting medicines are given under the tongue.19
A swallowed tablet takes the long way round: dissolved in your stomach, absorbed in your gut, then filtered by your liver, which breaks down 85–97% of the melatonin before it reaches your blood.15, 18
Clocked Out dissolves on your tongue in seconds, no water needed, so some melatonin can be absorbed through the lining of your mouth on the way. Not a pill in new packaging. A different way in.16, 20
More milligrams isn’t more sleep.
0.3mg restored normal night-time melatonin levels. Higher doses lowered body temperature and kept melatonin raised into the next day. Many sleep aids still pack 5–10mg. We use 1mg.
Circle area = melatonin per dose. Zhdanova et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2001.
Why choose Clocked Out?
Same goal as a pill or gummy. A smarter way in.
General category comparison. Check individual product labels.
Four botanicals. One low dose of melatonin.
What the research says about each ingredient.
Melatonin
1mgThe hormone your brain releases in darkness. We keep it low, in line with research showing more isn’t better.4, 6
Valerian root
50mgmore likely to report better sleep than with placebo, with no serious side effects reported.9
Chamomile
10mgSignificantly improved sleep quality versus placebo, with only mild side effects.11
Lavender
20mgA calming botanical studied for anxiety-related restlessness and disturbed sleep.12
Hibiscus
10mgA traditional evening botanical, rich in plant compounds. Human sleep research is still early, and we’d rather tell you that.
Research references describe the ingredients, often at different doses and preparations, not Clocked Out itself.
Most melatonin gummies don’t match their label.
Some held more than 3× the dose printed on the pack, and 26% of supplements tested contained serotonin. Clocked Out is made in an FDA-registered, NSF-certified cGMP facility and third-party lab tested.
Bars show actual melatonin as a % of the labeled dose. Cohen et al., JAMA, 2023 · Erland & Saxena, J Clin Sleep Med, 2017.
Made to the standards you’d expect at work.
Registered facility
Made in a US FDA-registered manufacturing facility.
Certified cGMP
Produced to NSF-certified Good Manufacturing Practice standards.
Third-party lab
Independently tested, so what’s on the label is in the strip.
Vegan ingredients
Premium plant-based botanicals. Gluten-free, no added sugar.
FDA registration means the facility is registered with the US Food and Drug Administration. It does not mean the FDA has approved the product.
Sources
- NIOSH / CDC. Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours, Module 3: Negative Impacts on Sleep.
- Pallesen S. et al. (2021). Prevalence of Shift Work Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 12:638252.
- Lewy A.J. et al. (1980). Light suppresses melatonin secretion in humans. Science, 210(4475):1267–1269.
- Zhdanova I.V. et al. (2001). Melatonin treatment for age-related insomnia. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 86(10):4727–4730.
- Liira J. et al. (2014). Pharmacological interventions for sleepiness and sleep disturbances caused by shift work. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CD009776.
- Ferracioli-Oda E., Qawasmi A., Bloch M.H. (2013). Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders. PLoS ONE, 8(5):e63773.
- Cohen P.A. et al. (2023). Quantity of melatonin and CBD in melatonin gummies sold in the US. JAMA, 329(16):1401–1402. (Reported by CBS News.)
- Erland L.A.E., Saxena P.K. (2017). Melatonin natural health products and supplements: presence of serotonin and significant variability of melatonin content. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 13(2):275–281.
- Bent S. et al. (2006). Valerian for sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Medicine, 119(12):1005–1012.
- Shinjyo N., Waddell G., Green J. (2020). Valerian root in treating sleep problems and associated disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, 25.
- Hieu T.H. et al. (2019). Therapeutic efficacy and safety of chamomile for state anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia, and sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Phytotherapy Research, 33(6):1604–1615.
- Kasper S. et al. (2015). Efficacy of orally administered Silexan in patients with anxiety-related restlessness and disturbed sleep: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 25(11):1960–1967.
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH). Melatonin: What You Need To Know.
- NIOSH / CDC. Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours, Module 9: Coping with the Night and Evening Shifts, Sleep.
- Andersen L.P.H. et al. (2016). Pharmacokinetics of oral and intravenous melatonin in healthy volunteers. BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology, 17:8.
- Zetner D. et al. (2016). Pharmacokinetics of alternative administration routes of melatonin: a systematic review. Drug Research, 66(4):169–173.
- Harpsøe N.G. et al. (2015). Clinical pharmacokinetics of melatonin: a systematic review. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 71:901–909.
- DeMuro R.L. et al. (2000). The absolute bioavailability of oral melatonin. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 40(7):781–784.
- Pharmaceutical Technology. Considerations in Developing Sublingual Tablets: An Overview.
- Nagendra R. et al. (2024). Oral Disintegrating Film: A Review. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.