What is Melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone that is found in all living things, right from single-celled organisms to humans. In humans and other vertebrates, melatonin is secreted in the pineal gland at the centre of our brains.
Production of melatonin in the pineal gland is largely dependent on signals received from our retinas – this occurs regardless of whether we can see or not since it is the pattern of light upon the retina and not vision itself that kick starts melatonin secretion. It is in darkness that melatonin works its magic – can you see why battery hens produce poor quality eggs? They are subjected to light 24 hours a day just so they’ll lay more eggs!
What Does Melatonin Do?
The melatonin hormone chemically functions to cause drowsiness, and works in conjunction with the central nervous system in this way to regulate our circadian rhythm of waking and sleeping. In winter the days are shorter, and that’s why we tend to need more sleep – our circadian cycle receives signals to slow down, the retinas relay to our brains that it’s getting darker earlier, melatonin kicks in and we get drowsy!
There has been a lot of media hype suggesting that melatonin also improves your sex life, cures cancer, increases the likelihood of weight loss and lets you live longer. The testing methods used in most of these studies are dubious at best, but there is an element of truth to linking melatonin to all those health benefits. If you ignore your body’s natural cycle of waking and sleeping for a long time, if you continue to burn the midnight oil to attempt to get ahead in some unfathomed way, you can be sure about this – you are definitely increasing your risk of cancer, a poor sex life and a rounder waist circumference! Melatonin has little to do with any of these symptoms; it’s just the hormone that lets you know when it’s time to slow down and sleep.
How Can I Increase My Melatonin Levels – My Circadian Rhythm is all Bojangles!
The amount of melatonin produced each night tends to decrease as we age. If you have worked night shifts for an extended period of time there’s also good reason to think that your circadian rhythm might need a bit of a hand. Jet lagged globetrotters may also like to supplement their diet with some melatonin-rich foods.
There is a good body of evidence to suggest that ingested melatonin gets used by our brain. This is excellent news, since a lot of plant foods like rice, oats, corn, tomatoes and bananas synthesise melatonin. Eat from these food groups if you are a problematic sleeper or feel like your circadian rhythm could do with a few extra drumbeats!
There are natural ways to increase your melatonin levels without worrying too much about what you’re eating. Get up as the sun does, exercise each day and go to bed when the sun does. It’s simple really. If you listen to what your body really wants you’ll sleep like a baby.
