The human body lives in obedience to a biological rhythm which involves extremely precise refinement of the work of the various organs and systems. In this complex system of regulation, melatonin plays a crucial role.
Melatonin is a fundamental regulator of the human body. This is a hormone that is present in the organisms of all living beings, in levels, which change in the daily cycle.
In higher organisms, Melatonin is produced by the cell type, called pinealotsites, by the pineal gland and also the gastrointestinal tract and retina. Melatonin is synthesized from the amino acid tryptophan. Its biological activity goes on for prolonged periods of time during the night, the effect being noticed on the cyclic system of the biological rhythms.
As mentioned above, melatonin is produced in the pituitary gland. It only appears at night, and in the day, it disappears. When the outside is dark, the pineal gland gradually increases melatonin output, reaching a maximum in total darkness. In the morning light the optic nerve activates, producing a pulse that passes through the spine and other higher conduction paths to reach the pineal gland. It blocks the synthesis and secretion of melatonin.
By producing continuous pulses through the optic nerve, the pineal gland is able to regulate the activity of the various organ systems and to promote the passage of the body into a sleep mode when it is dark.
Functions of melatonin
From the above, it became clear that melatonin regulates the alertness cycle, sleep and thus synchronizes biorhythms.
This extremely precise rhythm that is strictly individual for each person can be derailed if disturbances in melatonin secretion are seen. When in normal amounts, melatonin slightly reduces the body temperature of a person - thus reducing the consumption of energy and accelerates the regeneration of the cells that are not active during sleep.
It is said that melatonin is one of the most powerful antioxidants, which act both at the cell membrane level and within the cell itself. The levels of melatonin in the peripheral blood are different in both young and older adults. With age, some systems in the body are broken, and the consequence is a change in vital parameters. Negatively affects the cycle sleep-alertness. At night, the temperature in the elderly does not decrease, which means that the recovery processes during sleep, can not be performed.
Benefits of melatonin
Melatonin is vital for the proper functioning of the complex processes in the body. We have seen that it is not possible to regenerate the cells during the night without it, which leads only to negative consequences.
Melatonin has unique qualities when you have sleep disorders and disturbances in biorhythms after prolonged air travel, for example. Then distorted biological rhythm of a person, leads to other disturbances within the body. So very often melatonin pills are given, which support the occurrence of natural sleep.
Proper functioning of the internal biological rhythms seriously affects the length of human life. Most likely, the maintenance of circadian variations in melatonin secretion is particularly important to delay the process of aging. A study conducted in the United States proved the strong immune effect that melatonin has. There are extremely encouraging results in terms of cancer diseases.
Formulations of melatonin
There is some retardation /a slow release/ and standard form of melatonin. Both forms can not satisfy the need of the human body alone, because melatonin has a short life - between 30-40 minutes. In fact, melatonin needs to be present for 5-7 hours from the beginning to the end of sleep.
Although melatonin is found as a standard supplement, it’s not recommended to take it without medical supervision. Do not exceed the prescribed dose or chew the tablets. The good news is that the melatonin tablets are soporific and there is no getting addicted to it. It only syncs broken rhythms and ensures peace during sleep.
