Restoring Health with Melatonin
In today’s world, many people face health problems: stress, insomnia, lowered immunity, metabolic disorders, and many others. Fortunately, there is an effective and natural way to restore health — using melatonin.
Melatonin, which is produced in the human body with the right diurnal regimen, plays an important role in the regulation of the nervous system, immunity, and metabolism. In this article, we will look at how melatonin can help restore health naturally and what methods you can use to optimize its levels in the body.
All You Need to Know About Melatonin: Its Functions in the Body and Where It Is Formed
Melatonin plays a key role in the regulation of biorhythms and biological functions in the body. It synchronizes all organs and maintains the relationship between them and the internal clock, located in the hypothalamus. Melatonin ensures proper secretion of hormones such as cortisol, insulin, sex hormones, and supports normal functioning of the immune system, muscles, blood pressure, body temperature, and digestion.
For example, cortisol secretion increases in the wee hours of the morning, and the body’s sensitivity to insulin is better in the first half of the day. The secretion of sex hormones is also related to the functioning of melatonin. Thanks to melatonin, the body can make optimal use of energy and nutrients, which is important for health and performance.
Biorhythms, which are regulated by melatonin, play an important role in our lives. They determine when we should sleep, when to eat, when to work, and when to rest. Disruption of biorhythms can lead to lowered immunity, insomnia, depression, and other illnesses. Therefore, maintaining healthy levels of melatonin in the body is important for maintaining health and productivity throughout the day.
Melatonin is a hormone that is produced in the human body not only in the pineal gland of the brain but also in other organs and tissues. It plays an important role in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness as well as in a number of other processes such as immunity, metabolism, and reproductive function.
Melatonin has now been found to be produced in the retina, gastrointestinal tract, skin, bone marrow cells, platelets, adipose tissue, bone, muscle, and sex cells. The level of melatonin production depends on the cycle of day and night, and much more is produced at night than during the day.
If we measure a person’s melatonin levels in the blood, they are between 80 and 120 picograms per milliliter at night, which is significantly high. However, during the day, melatonin levels drop to 10 to 20 picograms per milliliter, which is a very low level of hormone production.
In the gastrointestinal tract, melatonin is produced from the amino acid tryptophan and serotonin. In addition, melatonin is produced in the skin and plays a vital role in protecting against oxidative stress and other external influences. In bone marrow cells, melatonin is involved in the regulation of bone tissue and immune function. Thus, melatonin is an important hormone produced in many human organs and tissues, and its levels are regulated by the cycle of day and night. Its role in the body is still being studied, and new sites of melatonin production may be discovered in the future.
Melatonin produced by various organs and tissues can enter the brain through the blood. This means that melatonin that has been synthesized, for example, in the gastrointestinal tract, can reach the brain and have its effect. In addition, melatonin is able to pass through the placenta, affecting the formation of the nervous system of a fetus during pregnancy, and through breast milk, affecting the development of a child’s nervous system while breastfeeding.
This is especially important for children, since melatonin is not produced sufficiently in the child’s body until the age of three months, and it is not until the age of three that melatonin levels stabilize. If a baby is fed formula, he or she may be deprived of the necessary amount of melatonin, which can have a negative impact on the development of his or her nervous system. It is therefore essential to ensure that children get enough melatonin, especially at an early age, by increasing foods containing tryptophan and serotonin and by increasing the amount of sleep they get at night.
How Does Insufficient Melatonin Affect the Body?
Insufficient melatonin is an important factor in the formation of various central nervous system disorders and psychiatric illnesses such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, and autism. Impaired production can also lead to insomnia, decreased mental performance, and cognitive impairment.
Impaired melatonin production can cause high blood pressure and obesity because melatonin affects adipose tissue metabolism. It can also lead to various reproductive disorders in men and women since melatonin affects the production of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone as well as sperm maturation and the correctness of the menstrual cycle and ovulation.
In addition, melatonin has a profound effect on the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and the immune system in general. When melatonin levels are correct, anti-inflammatory activity is enhanced in the body, which is one of the strategies to slow down the aging process.
Is It Good to Take Melatonin Pills?
An imbalance in melatonin production can lead to serious illness, so many people resort to taking melatonin in the form of medication. However, you need to understand that uncontrolled increases in any hormone can be detrimental to your health.
Before prescribing melatonin, it is necessary to know a person’s melatonin concentration in the blood. Normally, the concentration of melatonin is 80 to 120 picograms per milliliter at night and 10 to 20 picograms per milliliter during the day. To accurately measure melatonin levels, a blood or saliva test must be performed. However, to accurately determine peak melatonin levels, which occur between two and four in the morning, one must wake up at night and perform this test. This can be difficult for many people.
It is also worth noting that melatonin should be prescribed by a doctor based on the individual patient, as each person may have a different optimal dose. It is necessary to remember that melatonin is not safe for all categories of patients including pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children as well as people with certain diseases such as glaucoma or immune deficiency conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to consult a specialist and follow his or her recommendations.
How to Increase Melatonin Levels Naturally
Recent work by Swedish scientists has shown that a simple household device, a weighted sensory blanket, can help to establish the natural production of melatonin. The mechanism of action of this blanket is still unclear, but it has already been used for a variety of psychological disorders, depression, insomnia, attention deficit disorder, high blood pressure, etc.
A weighted blanket presses down on a person’s body and creates a feeling of tightness, which helps to reduce stress and anxiety levels. It can also improve sleep quality and increase melatonin production. However, until now, no one has measured melatonin levels when using a weighted blanket. Thus, a weighted sensory blanket may be effective in helping treat insomnia and other psychological disorders. But more research is needed to better understand the mechanism of action and effectiveness of this device.
This blanket is filled with polished glass balls and weighs about 12% of a person’s body weight. One theory is that stimulation of skin receptors through the weighted blanket may increase melatonin production, which is essential for normal sleep.
Researchers conducted a study in which they monitored melatonin levels in people who were covered with a weighted blanket before going to bed. Participants rested under the weighted blankets from 10 P.M. to 11 P.M. Then they collected saliva to measure melatonin levels. The control group rested under regular blankets.
The results showed that people who use the weighted blankets had an average 32% increase in melatonin levels compared to the control groups. However, this did not lead to improved sleep quality. Nevertheless, the use of weighted blankets may help normalize melatonin levels and improve functions that have been impaired by insufficient melatonin production.
Conclusion
The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that weighted blankets are a safe and effective way to increase melatonin levels in the body. This is endorsed by the fact that study participants who slept under weighted blankets had higher levels of melatonin than those who slept under regular blankets.
Although this technique resulted in no observable improvement in sleep quality or other subjective feelings, weighted blankets may be effective in normalizing melatonin levels and improving overall body health.