Melatonin: A natural anti-stress sleep enhancer

We are in a world full of stress. The Iraqi war and the SARS scare are giving a lot of people sleepless nights. Just as certain as taxes and the rising cost of fuel, stress is something that we’ll have to reckon with daily. And if you’re pushing 40 or older, it’s just too bad. At this age, there’s a natural sleep-enhancing, anti-stress hormone which many may already be deficient in.

According to Russel Reiter of the Center University of Texas Health-Science Center, the melatonin hormone, which is secreted cyclically from the pineal gland at the center of the brain, keeps us in sync with the rhythms of the day and the season.

One loses his melatonin hormone as one’s biological clock keeps ticking, thus, the need to replenish it with natural supplements.

One’s melatonin level is at its peak at six years of age. The first sharp decline is after puberty when one is about 16 years old. Adults at age 45 secrete only half as much as children.

When one becomes 80, melatonin production comes in trickles. This is the reason why we seem to sleep less as we grow older. Many think this is normal or physiologic. But the low levels of melatonin may very well explain why the elderly have increased number of pains and degenerative illnesses.

Surprisingly, melatonin which has been available in the local market for seven years now, has gained raves in the United States for its efficacy both as a nutritional supplement and as a non-habit forming sleep-enhancing pill. It does not have the hangover of a regular sleeping pill. The local Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) has registered it as a food supplement.

Like most animals, human beings produce melatonin abundantly throughout early life. But the levels in our blood wane slightly during or after puberty and spiral down gradually as we age, said Dr. Walter Pierpaoli, an Italian immunologist.

In one of his experiments, he gave the melatonin hormone to rodents and restored their youthful levels. They outlived their life expectancies by nearly a third. Many believe that it may also have an anti-aging and life-prolonging effect in humans.

Pierpaoli and Dr. William Regeson, in their book The Melatonin Miracle, said, "Melatonin can stop the downward spiral that we have come to associate with aging."

The Philippine distributor of Melatonin-T, Trianon International, endorses it as "an aid to sleep problems, making one enjoy deep, restful sleep and waking up the next day feeling relaxed."

Trianon Melatonin-T is classified as an over-the-counter food supplement, and is available in Mercury Drug stores nationwide.

According to Reiter, Pierpaoli and Regeson, studies suggest that melatonin may also have anti-cancer and anti-aging components, an immune system booster, cardiovascular function and virility enhancer.

Melatonin enhances the immune system and may increase one’s resistance to infections. It may be worth taking in times like this when we have the SARS and other atypical infections, according to some local physicians.

With the buying habits of consumers who believe in its wonders, melatonin is poised to become one of the hottest pills of the decade, according to a research in the US.

Melatonin is an effective remedy for insomnia or sleep disturbance, a proven remedy for jet lag, an aid to shift workers by inducing sleep, a powerful antioxidant, and good for individuals under stress.

The following drugs may deplete the natural secretion of melatonin: aspirin, beta-blockers, sleeping pills and tranquilizers. Caffeine, tobacco and alcohol may also reduce melatonin stored in the body. Thus, people taking these drugs and substances may need melatonin supplement.

Melatonin-T is available as 3 mg capsules and the recommended dose is one to two capsules one hour before bedtime.