Melatonin

After diggin around some, I found that the two main uses for Melatonin are for sleeping trouble and jet-lag. Jet-lag? That was a new one for me.

Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland, which is about the size of a pea, located in the middle of your cranium. (I like that word....cranium : ) Anyway, Melatonin is secreted at night or in the dark. So I guess you could just lock yourself in your closet to begin the secretion process if you want to sleep during the day???  I haven't tried the oral supplement version and I obviously don't leak any when I should.

My aunt has begun using Melatonin to help her sleep issues which stem from my uncle's Alzheimer's. He doesn't appear to take notice of the time, and wakes her at odd hours, a lot. Melatonin is helping her fall back to sleep.

Melatonin levels are found to decrease with age (of course it does!).  It is believed to effect age related disorders such as Alzheimer's, glucose intolerance, impaired immune function and cancer. If you are a rat or a mouse and happen to get hold of some Melatonin, you may increase your life-span by 20%!

Ok, is it safe? Opinions seem to substantially vary, and it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  In my digging around, it seems that a large part of the problem is that no one can agree on a dosage amount.  Ok, I'm bored. Good night.