Do you feel tired or sleepy in the afternoon? Are you getting between 7-8 hours of sleep per night? Do you wake up feeling refreshed, or as if you need to go back to bed? For some people, the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep is an ongoing problem that not only results in daytime drowsiness but affects lack of concentration/focus, memory, patience, reaction time when driving or operating machinery and much more.
Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland of the brain and is usually recommended for its ability to restore circadian rhythm (sleep cycles) in the body. More melatonin is produced when it’s dark outside preparing the body for rest, while less is produced during the daytime to awaken the body for the day ahead. As beneficial as this task is, melatonin has so many more crucial jobs in the body aside from sleep regulation. It is both a hormone as well as a powerful antioxidant, which is essential in the neutralizing of free radicals – those unstable molecules that can and do cause havoc to our health if not kept under control.
Without melatonin, the body cannot product glutathione (read about this vital antioxidant on our site if you haven’t already). This hormone also controls and regulates the T and B cells of our immune system. As many are aware, our immune system is critical in defending us against foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. Poor sleep breaks down our immune system, leaving us more susceptible to getting sick.
The highest production of melatonin is reached when we are 10 years old, as puberty occurs our melatonin levels begin to decline. Older people have only negligible amount of this essential hormone/antioxidant left in their body. Stress reduces our melatonin level which in turn increases the unwanted cortisol level (stress hormone) in our body. The effects here result in both poor sleep and delayed healing.
Lack of sleep does more than make us feel tired during the day, it’s associated with many diseases as well. These will be discussed next time as we journey to better health by “creating a balance within.”