What's the relationship
between
melatonin and sleep?
If you've ever had a tough time
falling asleep, tossing and turning instead of
passing out when your head hits the pillow, knowing the
relationship between melatonin and sleep can help you out!
Melatonin and sleep are
intimately related. Melatonin is a hormone that
is released into the body when the eyes register that it's
getting dark. When the eyes send the message to the brain
that darkness is falling, a gland in the brain (the pineal
gland) releases melatonin, which then signals the body to
"wind down" and prepare for sleep. Melatonin regulates
our waking and sleeping cycles in addition to performing
other jobs.
Melatonin is a hormone
naturally produced by the body. For all of us who
"zoned out" in high school biology, a hormone is a natural
chemical substance (not synthetic or man-made) that's formed
in one part of the body and then secreted into the bloodstream
and travels to another part of the body where it causes
something to happen.
The body manufactures hormones from
the nutrients that we eat, so nutrition
is definitely related to melatonin and sleep. The body
repairs and re-energizes itself during sleep. If it doesn't
have the "raw materials" to build and repair itself (meaning
having the right nutrients), sleep is affected because
the body can't always make what it needs to function properly
- including the hormone melatonin.
Other factors also affect melatonin and
sleep... Unhandled
stress, lack of sufficient physical
activity and too much artificial light, especially when
it's normally dark outside, can all reduce the production
of melatonin and sleep can suffer. Research on melatonin
production indicates that as we age, less melatonin is produced
as well.
The good news is that melatonin as a
sleep aid supplement is widely available. I use it successfully
when I can't get to sleep. One great benefit of
using melatonin as a sleep aid is that you wake
up more refreshed and without the groggy, fuzzy-headed drugged
feeling like you can get from over-the-counter or prescription
alternatives.
You can get melatonin as a sleep
aid in the forms of capsules or tea from a health
food store. Fortunately, I don't have those "flop around
like a fish" nights very often but when I do, I make a cup
of melatonin tea (I like to add a bag of peppermint tea
too for taste and digestive benefits). It works like a charm!
Within less than an hour, I am snuggling down in my bed
covers and I get a very good, deep, restful sleep.
In addition to being non-addictive
and having no damaging side effects, melatonin
as a sleep aid may have other health benefits as well. Melatonin
apparently has excellent antioxidant
properties, possibly assists the immune system and a host
of other potential benefits. Heck, getting better sleep
has tremendous health benefits including a stronger immune
system and weight control!
You can read more about melatonin and
sleep and many of melatonin's other health benefits at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin
The relationship between
melatonin and sleep has been scientifically proven.
The body needs this hormone to "tell it to go to sleep!"
But don't depend on a melatonin sleep aid alone to help
you get those good zzzzzzzs...
Melatonin is just one small factor in
getting good sleep on a regular basis. The
importance of sleep ranks it as one
of the four most fundamental factors of good health, physical
and mental!
Nutrition,
physical activity
and stress
management are the other three basic factors that influence
health. They are all inter-related and affect one another.
The percentages I've seen vary, but about
half of Americans are not able to get enough sleep. Makes
me crabby just thinking about it! We'll take a look at how
to sleep better by making some short-term and long-term
improvements in your routine in an upcoming article.
Sleep well!
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