What is Melatonin?
Melatonin is a natural hormone made by your body’s pineal (pih-knee-uhl) gland. This is a pea-sized gland located just above the middle of the brain. During the day the pineal is inactive. When the sun goes down and darkness occurs, the pineal is “turned on” and begins to actively produce melatonin, which is released into the blood. Usually, this occurs around 9 pm. As a result, melatonin levels in the blood rise sharply and you begin to feel less alert. Sleep becomes more inviting. Melatonin levels in the blood stay elevated for about 12 hours – all through the night – before the light of a new day when they fall back to low daytime levels by about 9 am. Daytime levels of melatonin are barely detectable.
What Does Natural Melatonin do in the Body?
Your body has its own internal clock that controls your natural cycle of sleeping and waking hours (circadian cycles). In part, your body clock controls how much melatonin your body makes. During the shorter days of the winter months, your body may produce melatonin either earlier or later in the day than usual. This change can lead to symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or winter depression.
Because melatonin is a hormone that is part of the human sleep-wake cycle, many people supplement more of it as a pill, helping them to fall asleep faster or stay asleep longer.
Melatonin for Sleep
Jet lag, shift in work, stress, medications and advancing age can reduce our natural melatonin levels and can upset the body’s internal clock. It’s a complex interaction that is not fully understood. Melatonin supplements can be effective in assisting certain sleep disorders. Whether the trouble is falling asleep or staying asleep, studies also show that melatonin enhances the quality of sleep, and may help people sleep longer.
For jet lag, take melatonin on your day of departure — but close to the bedtime at your destination. Continue taking it for several days. It works best when traveling eastward — and when crossing four or more time zones.
A Few Cautions
In most cases, melatonin supplements are safe in low doses for short-term and long-term use. But be sure to talk with your doctor about taking them. However, there have been concerns in long term use about risks of bleeding (especially in people taking blood-thinners like warfarin). There also is increased risk of seizure, particularly in children with brain disorders.
If melatonin makes you feel drowsy, do not drive or operate machinery when you are taking it.
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