OK, so you probably know that melatonin is the sleep hormone… but it is so much more than this.

OK, so it is important for sleep, good quality sleep, as it is involved in your circadian rhythms- these govern your sleep- wake cycle. It is the converse to cortisol, which is high in the morning to stimulate you into getting active, and lowers throughout the day, whereas melatonin rises towards the later part of the day so as to prepare you for sleep.

But it does so much more than this!!!

How does affect us?

You have a circadian clock, your sleep- wake cycle, that is in the hypothalamus in the brain and this transmits signals to the pineal gland, to stimulate or reduce melatonin production, between dusk and dawn.

Melatonin production is influenced by the detection of the retina, in the eye, of light production and is inhibited when we detect light and stimulated by dark, so production varies with the circadian body clock.

Ever wondered why hen you are stressed that your sleep is affected, well apart from overthinking thing, there are more effects going on in the brain than you think… The pineal gland is really sensitive to adrenaline, so the more stressed that you are, particularly over extended periods, the more adrenaline you produce, which has a negative effect on melatonin production, which negatively affects your sleep!

Our production of melatonin is reduced from age 10- this is why it is so important for children to have enough restful sleep, to ensure that their melatonin is optimal at age 10! So in cases where young children have ADHD- there’s a lack of melatonin!

Melatonin can affect vasoconstriction and dilation, which affects the heart function. Similarly when you are stressed and you have lots of adrenaline released, melatonin is reduced, well the adrenaline has excitatory effects on the cardiac tissue in the heart and stimulates it to work harder- your flight or flight!

Melatonin has anti excitatory effects on cardiac tissue, and helps to regulate contraction, and prevent increased mitochondrial permeability, these are the energy uses in our cells, if they are affected then our energy production decreases [ATP] and the mitochondria swell and apoptosis occurs. Lack of energy! So if you have melatonin it protects the electron transport chanin, part of the energy producing pathway, from free radical damage, limits reduction of glutathione and increases mitochondrial energy production.

Melatonin reduces oxidative stress from free radicals, so decreases free radicals by acting as an antioxidant and neutralising them, which has a cellular anti ageing effect #winning. It promotes glutathione recycling and maintains levels of glutathione as an antioxidant. Without melatonin, we have no glutathione, which is deemed the master antioxidant!

Melatonin reduces inflammation by inhibiting prostaglandin release, which is associated with neurodegenerative disease and cancers. It is seen as a protector of neurogenic function, by preventing electron leakage from mitochondria. Melatonin is selectively taken up by mitochondria and inhibits lipid peroxidation by scavenging free radicals. Melatonin receptors in pineal gland, Melatonin directly affects ovaries, blood vessels and intestinal tract- so lack of melatonin has a direct impact on all of these structures. The binding of melatonin to the receptors in pituitary gland and ovaries directly influence reproductive hormones and the timing, length and frequency of periods. Melatonin also affects the digestion of foods, relative to the time of day.

So how does melatonin affect your Christmas? Well, melatonin is a derivative of the amino acid tryptophan… ever wondered why you get sleepy after Christmas day lunch. Well turkey is filled with tryptophan!

P.S. Sleeping tablets don’t work on this important function- avoid!!!!!