Melatonin: More Than Sleep Benefits

Melatonin supplements are helpful because "blue
light" inhibits production by the pineal gland.
(sleepy scientist)

Beginning this year I've been taking a 3-mg tablet of melatonin every night. Coincidence or not, the result has been five hours of uninterrupted sleep instead of the usual 2-3 hours since turning 60.

In addition to being a hormone that seems to help people sleep, melatonin has other health benefits:

it can help combat inflammation, promote weight loss, and maybe even help children with neurodevelopmental disorders...

One 2011 review found evidence that, in children with autism, melatonin supplementation led to improved sleep and better daytime behavior. A small 2017 study from Poland found that obese adults who took a daily 10 mg melatonin supplement for 30 days while eating a reduced-calorie diet lost almost twice as much weight as a placebo group. The underlying cause might be connected to the fact that blood measures of oxidative damage and inflammation were much lower in the people who took melatonin...

Inflammation, like poor sleep, is implicated in the development or progression of an array of diseases, from heart disease and diabetes to depression and dementia. If melatonin could safely promote both better sleep and lower rates of inflammation, it could be a potent preventative for a lot of those ills. And melatonin appears to be safe—though there isn’t much research on the long-term effects of taking it in heavy doses.

Over your humble blogger's lifetime daily doses of various substances have been touted as the key to good health, e.g., vitamin C, vitamin E, baby aspirin, oatmeal, red wine, and fish oil. Melatonin is just the latest in a long line of these miraculous foods and tablets.

Well, I don't know about inflammation, weight loss, and neuro-health. As long as I'm sleeping better--and until that nearly inevitable study comes out about melatonin's harmful effects--I'll continue to pop a pill every night.