What Does Melatonin Do?
What Does Melatonin Do?
Melatonin belongs to the class of indole heterocyclic compounds, and its chemical name is N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, also known as pineal hormone, melatonin, and melatonin. After melatonin is synthesized, it is stored in the pineal gland, and sympathetic nerve excitement controls the release of melatonin from pineal cells. Melatonin is a hormone naturally secreted by the human body, produced by the pineal gland in the brain, and it plays a key role in regulating the body's biological clock and sleep-wake cycle.
Melatonin is not only found in mammals and humans, but also in prokaryotes, fungi, plants and other organisms. Its concentration in plasma decreases during the day and increases at night. Studies have shown that melatonin can regulate the body's biological clock. When people feel that the ambient light is decreasing, the pineal gland begins to secrete a small amount of melatonin, telling the body that it needs to enter a state of rest and sleep, and the body begins to feel sleepy.
What are the health benefits of melatonin?
Antioxidant and anti-aging:Melatonin has a strong antioxidant capacity, which can remove free radicals in the body, reduce the damage of oxidative stress to cells and tissues, and protect cell structure and DNA from damage.
Delaying the aging process:By removing free radicals and anti-oxidation, melatonin can delay the aging process, protect cells from oxidative damage, and thus keep the body young.
Enhance immunity:Melatonin can promote the synthesis and release of cell mediators by lymphocytes, increase the number of lymphocytes and eosinophils, enhance the body's immune defense function, and help the body better resist bacterial infection and disease invasion. It can not only enhance the immune response by stimulating lymphocyte proliferation, but also inhibit excessive inflammatory response, regulate the proportion of T cell subpopulations, and maintain the balance of the immune system.
Protect cardiovascular and cerebrovascular:Melatonin affects the fat content in cells, can reduce the probability of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and has a certain protective effect on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system.
Prevent and treat eye diseases:Melatonin has the function of preventing and treating eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma and retinal macular degeneration, which is beneficial to eye health.
Improve mood:It has a certain regulating effect on mood, can reduce negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, improve psychological state, and make people feel calmer and more relaxed, which may be indirectly related to its regulation of neurotransmitter balance and improvement of sleep quality.
Can melatonin really promote sleep?
As a naturally occurring substance in the human body, melatonin has its own "healthy hypnosis" aura, and related products are even regarded as "a sleep aid for all ages".
Melatonin binds to the melatonin receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, transmits the signal of "night is coming" to the body, and helps establish a regular sleep-wake cycle. The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is the core part of the human body's biological clock. It can adjust its own rhythm according to the signal of melatonin, and then regulate the activities of various organs and systems in the body to adapt them to the day and night changes of the outside world.
The pineal gland can keenly perceive various signals caused by changes in the internal environment of the body and the external light cycle, thereby dynamically adjusting its own secretion of melatonin, and then reacting to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and a series of neuroendocrine pathways related to the circadian rhythm, and collaboratively completing a more accurate and stable regulation of the biological clock.
Melatonin can bind to the MT1 and MT2 receptors in the brain, inhibit nerve excitability, reduce the time of tossing and turning after lying in bed, and help people who have difficulty falling asleep to fall asleep faster. The MT1 receptor mainly acts on the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which can inhibit neuronal discharge, adjust the phase changes at the beginning of the circadian rhythm, and adjust the light cycle information; the MT2 receptor mainly regulates the discharge of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the phase changes of the circadian rhythm peak, and inhibits dopamine release.
Melatonin can prolong the duration of deep sleep, reduce the number of awakenings at night, and improve overall sleep efficiency. Deep sleep is an important stage for the body to repair and recover itself. In deep sleep, the body can better carry out physiological activities such as cell regeneration and immune system regulation, which helps to improve sleep quality.
It is also a powerful free radical scavenger that can reduce the damage of oxidative stress to the sleep center. The indole ring in its molecular structure can directly neutralize reactive oxygen molecules and protect mitochondrial function. This neuroprotective effect can indirectly improve sleep disorders caused by brain aging or pathology and create a good neural environment for sleep.
Melatonin prepares for sleep by lowering body temperature and slowing metabolism. At night, the increased secretion of melatonin will gradually reduce body temperature, slow down metabolism, and put the body into a relatively relaxed state, which is more conducive to falling asleep and maintaining sleep.
Who is melatonin suitable for?
Elderly people: Melatonin is a natural hypnotic substance produced by the human body. The reduction of melatonin is the crux of insomnia.
Supplementing melatonin can restore the level of melatonin to a young state, while repairing the natural pattern of the human sleep nerves, shortening the time of waking up before bed and falling asleep, regulating rhythm, improving sleep quality, significantly reducing the number of awakenings during sleep, shortening the light sleep stage, and extending the deep sleep stage.
People with poor sleep quality: Melatonin can shorten the time of waking up before bedtime and the time of falling asleep, significantly reduce the number of awakenings during sleep, shorten the light sleep stage, and prolong the deep sleep stage, thereby improving sleep quality.
People with jet lag and shift work: The secretion of melatonin in the human body has a circadian rhythm, and it is secreted more at night. Melatonin can reset the body's biological clock, adjust the jet lag, correct the jet lag reaction, help with jet lag, and improve the sleep of shift workers.