This hormone has been shown to have some antidepressant effects, and decreased melatonin can trigger symptoms of depression.
A biologist Joan Roberts was the first to discover the relationship between light and health. He found such a correlation in his study in animal experiments which provided treatment by artificial lights on all night.
Once observed, Roberts measuring levels of the hormone melatonin in the animal body and discovered the fact that amount will be decreasing with low body resistance to disease.
Roberts concluded that the lights (including the emission from the television screen) can cause decreased levels of the hormone melatonin in the body that will affect the lower resistance to disease and cause the body to become weak.
Recent research presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, describes the correlation between light and depression levels. In his journal that the study concluded was the night shift workers and others who are always exposed to light at night would increase the risk of mood disorders or depression.
Tracy Bedrosian, a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University, who conducted research on squirrels, also identifies that the brain changes in squirrel arising from fluctuations in the production of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin signals to the body that was the night the day, but the light at night inhibits melatonin hormone production.
The hormone melatonin or N-acetyl-5-metoksitriptamin is the primary regulatory hormone that serves to organize and maintain circadian rhythms (body clock system plays an important role in regulating the time for sleeping and waking).
The hormone melatonin is mainly made by the pineal gland and some are made in small intestine and retina. Production of the hormone melatonin is influenced by the level of ambient light intensity, and will always grow much, if humans are in a dark environment and silence, but its production will be inhibited by the presence of external stimuli, such as bright light and electromagnetic fields.
As a hormone which has the main function create good quality sleep, the hormone melatonin has the following functions:
• Maintain harmony of cellular metabolism, maintaining the efficiency / effectiveness of the cell, making the cells are not easily damaged, so - increase the cell resistance against various disturbances from outside.
• Affects the immune system
• Affecting the organs of the body, especially at work during sleep
• Affects one's psychological health, especially for mood. Someone lack of sleep will have low melatonin levels so impaired feeling (mood) as easily agitated, tiredness, irritability.
• Serving as a natural system that regulates the body's aging.
• Makes sleep more soundly thus improving the quality of sleep.
• Helps the body fight cancer cells such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease, and cardiac arrhythmias.
• Melatonin plays optimally encourage antioxidant activity within the body thereby preventing DNA damage-induced carcinogenic substances cause cancer and dismiss its growth mechanism.
