What is melatonin and what is it used for?
The melatonin It is a hormone, which is found in animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and some algae. Melatonin is synthesized from the essential amino acid tryptophan and occurs mainly in the pineal gland, which is a small endocrine gland located in a bone called "the sella turca" in the central region of the brain.
Its main function is to produce the aforementioned melatonin, although this being produced in its greater quantity in the pineal gland is also produced but in very small amounts in other sites such as the retina, the bone marrow, the digestive tract and the respiratory epithelium and many other places).
Participates in an immense amount of cellular, neurophysiological and neuroendocrine processes, such as for example: control of the daily sleep cycle, being also important in the modulation of the immune system; A very powerful antioxidant, being able to delay old age and reducing the risk of cancer. Melatonin is a very important hormone without which basically we could not live.
What role does melatonin have?
She is in charge of regulating the sleep cycle. As stated above, melatonin is responsible for controlling the daily sleep cycle in people, this has led to the clinical use of this for the treatment of sleep disorders, as well as has been used to improve the quality of sleep of the patients. people.
Even It is also used to deal with the sudden change that people suffer when they change their time zone for a trip (the popularly known as jet lag); all this is because the process of melatonin secretion is controlled by the light and dark cycle, while in lida it has very low concentrations in the body.
During the night the synthesis of melatonin is stimulated causing the plasma levels to rise, reaching their maximum values between the night, allowing us to rest when we should and being an effective supplement to treat insomnia problems.
It must be taken into account that melatonin is 100% natural and is produced by the body normally, this means that there will be no side effects due to its consumption as opposed to other treatments based on sleeping pills, which may end up in dependence and in several unwanted side effects.
Melatonin supplements are a shrewd alternative that should be considered.
Its relationship with the immune system. It has been shown that melatonin stimulates the immune system in humans, being a natural antioxidant with extremely important properties that are responsible for the aging of the body.
Aging brings about the reduction of the immune functions, this means a greater propensity to contract infections, degenerative diseases and even a greater probability of contracting cancer, this being another important point of melatonin.
It has been proven that melatonin serves to decrease the chance of getting cancer, emphasizing the preceded; since it increases the immunity of the body after certain metabolic processes.
In addition to the above mentioned, old age is the cause of the drastic reduction of important hormones such as: growth hormone, estrogens, androgens and of course, melatonin.
Having said that, it is not surprising that studies are currently underway for the use of melatonin to delay the process of aging in people and to treat cancer, since it can increase immunity against tumors.
Melatonin offers many benefits, which are studied to be used to the maximum and to extend and make the life of the human being more healthy; However, these studies are still underway and the potential of this substance used as a supplement to fully take advantage of the benefits it can bring has not yet been fully developed.
As can be determined in the above, melatonin is a hormone with great health benefits, being the most important regulator of sleep in the body of people.
A lack of control of this would not allow the optimal sleep to develop in people, being able to be used as a supplement to help the treatment of insomnia or the change of time zone; In addition, the study of this may allow in the future to facilitate the treatment of cancer and even old age.
