After Menopause This Sleep Hormone Declines Like It’s Falling Off a Cliff
Melatonin is considered to be THE sleep hormone, and for good reason.
Without melatonin, your body would not know when it is day and when it is night; when to be awake and when to be asleep; what your body should be doing during sleep, and what your body should be doing during awake time.
Your body functions completely differently during these two phases of the day and this is essential for good health.
Some people don't produce melatonin and their life is a nightmare (excuse the pun).
This condition is called Narcolepsy.
People with narcolepsy fall asleep at any time of the day, often with no warning - they could be driving, at a meeting at work, talking. Any old time. At night they are often not sleepy. There is no rhythm to their day - it is not a 24 hour cycle but an unpredictable blur without adequate sleep and little sense of restoration.
Melatonin is produced at night in your pineal gland, a small organ behind the bridge of your nose, deep in the brain.
So, what does Melatonin do for your sleep?
When melatonin is present in your bloodstream, you:
feel sleepy
fall asleep faster
sleep longer
get deeper sleep
After a night with adequate melatonin, you feel more alert in the morning and do not feel sleepy and fatigued during the day.
Melatonin is essential for sleep and also for the adequate functioning of your body at night.
Melatonin signals to all your organs that it is nighttime.
During this time your digestion system is at work breaking down the contents of the food from your last meal. Your immune system is activated, cleaning out the debris of the day. Your brain goes through a deep cleansing process, getting rid of toxins and metabolic by-products.
Melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant in itself, cleaning up the free radicals that wreak havoc with your health and hasten aging.
Unfortunately, melatonin production decreases with age.
In women, melatonin production slowly declines from the age of 15 to 45. This decline steepens after age 45 and after 50, post-menopause, the decline is even steeper.
Low melatonin could be one reason why sleep problems get worse with age.
Some experts recommend melatonin supplements to compensate for this age-related decline in production. You can take melatonin in the evening on an empty stomach.
Boost this essential sleep hormone naturally
Melatonin is essential for sleep.
Melatonin signals to the body that it is nighttime and time to sleep. Every organ responds by shifting activity accordingly.
Studies show that a decline in Melatonin circulating in the blood corresponds to a decline in the duration and quality of sleep.
One of the reasons we experience lower Melatonin than we should is due to modern-day inventions that decrease our body's ability to synthesize this essential hormone.
Melatonin needs darkness.
Produced in the pineal gland, this hormone is only synthesized at night in complete darkness.
The pineal gland houses sensitive receptors that respond to even the slightest amount of light. When these sensors are activated, no melatonin is produced.
Throughout our evolution, this hasn't been a problem.
Now with brighter lighting, we are experiencing a decline in Melatonin production and corresponding problems with sleep.
This problem has worsened over the past 15 years with more and more blue light brightening our nights.
Blue light signals to the brain that it is morning. This is when our pineal gland is programmed to stop producing melatonin.
Here are some of the worst offenders of blue light affecting the night;
Bright florescent lights which have in recent years been installed for street lighting
Bathroom lighting is typically strong fluorescent blue lighting. Think of it, just when you are brushing your teeth and getting ready for bed, you are telling your brain that it is really morning and it should wake up!
Screens of all kinds; smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs, etc are all emitting blue light. So when you wind down at the end of the day watching a movie on your computer, you are also telling your body to wake up!
Even a tiny amount of light will severely decline the production of Melatonin.
No wonder we have problems with sleep!
How do you naturally protect the melatonin that you need to fall asleep?
Avoid blue light at night:
Wear blue-light-blocking glasses at night. By the way, don't wear these during the daytime. Your brain needs blue light during the daytime to stay awake!
Set your phone and smart pad to nighttime mode, shifting the light on your screen from blue-tinted to orange-tinted at sunset.
Set your phone and smart pad to reduce lighting at sunset.
Install flu.x on your computer shifting the light on your screen from blue-tinted to orange-tinted at sunset. Get Flu.x here.
3. Set up low-wattage orange-tinted incandescent lamps throughout your home. Turn these on at night rather than overhead lamps
4. Don't turn on the overhead lights in your bathroom at night. Instead, use a small lamp you plug in the outlet.
5. Make your bedroom as dark as a cave
Cover windows with light-blocking curtains
Consider sleeping with eyeshades
Eliminate these from your bedroom: alarm clocks with light, night lights, electronic equipment with LEDs (yes even this tiny amount of light can mess with your sleep!)
Protect your master switch for sleep!
There is a tiny organ deep in the brain which is in charge of putting you to sleep at night.
This is the pineal gland, known for millennia as the "third eye" and the seat of the soul.
Interestingly, modern science concurs with the label as the "third eye" as the gland responds to light and produces Melatonin.
As a mystical organ linked to connection with source and extraordinary perception such as telepathy and psychic vision, the pineal gland is connected to the Third Eye Chakra.
Ancient systems of belief over the world have unanimously perceived it as the source of our connection to spirit and for that reason, I believe there is wisdom there that should be attended to.
Regardless, simply as a producer of melatonin, the pineal gland is undisputedly essential to our well-being.
Without the pineal gland we wouldn't sleep.
Our bodies wouldn't function properly at night.
We wouldn't be able to fight infections effectively and as a powerful antioxidant, we wouldn't eliminate the blood of free radicals.
And yet the pineal gland is in danger.
Its effectiveness is greatly reduced due to calcification. This is a shell of crystals surrounding the pineal gland, rendering it inactive or underactive.
This results in less production of Melatonin, impacting sleep.
Remember, melatonin regulates the sleep-wake cycle and is essential to deep and adequate sleep.
So, what is causing the pineal gland to calcify?
Fluoride
Fluoride is added to municipal drinking water in many towns and cities. The reason why is the belief that fluoride may play a role in reducing cavities. However, this belief is based on outdated data and there is ample evidence debunking this.
Why is the pineal gland so vulnerable to fluoride?
The pineal gland is located outside the blood-brain barrier and rich in capillaries, second only to the kidneys in this respect, as its function relies on ample exposure to blood.
It also has the highest concentration of calcium in the body, causing fluoride to be attracted to this organ and cause damage.
Want more evidence of the harms of fluoride? Click here.
How to protect your pineal gland:
Avoid fluoridated products such as dental paste
Source unfluoridated water if you can
Snstall a water filtration system that eliminates fluoride
Melatonin is the hormone that tells the body its time for sleep.
Unfortunately, with age we produce less of this vital hormone.
You could supplement with melatonin, but before you do that check that you are doing everything necessary for your body to produce it naturally.
In particular, protect yourself from blue light at night and protect your pineal gland from fluoride contamination.