Description
Melatonin (called night hormone) is a hormone participating in the control of human sleep-wake cycle. It is secreted in the hours of darkness mostly by a small pineal gland in the brain. Melatonin secretion is low in the day time; it begins to rise in the late evening and reaches the highest level at midnight hours 02–04 am, decreasing again in the early morning hours.
The secretion varies with different age groups. Babies and small children have high nocturnal melatonin levels but the excretion reaches the plateau at teenage. In adults, the rhythm of melatonin secretion remains unchanged but night-time concentrations continue to fall, and in the elderly there is no difference any more between night- and daytime melatonin concentrations. However, melatonin secretion varies among individuals in all age groups.
Melatonin contributes to the reduction of time taken to fall asleep
Melatonin prepares an individual for falling asleep. The hormone decreases the body temperature and alertness which leads to typical sleepiness prior to falling asleep. Oral intake of melatonin has been found to be effective in alleviating to fall asleep that it is not due to any physical or psychological cause. In the elderly, too, melatonin alleviates to fall asleep, particularly in people whose melatonin production is low.
Melatonin alleviates subjective feelings of jet lag
Jet lag symptoms arise by the disturbance in the body’s internal clock when flying across at least four time zones. Typical jet lag feelings are tiredness, irritability, lack of concentration, fatigue and poor appetite. Flying eastward causes a longer jet lag than flying westward. Intake of melatonin during few days after the arrival at destination relieves symptoms and returns the body’s internal rhythm to normal.
Food supplement is not a substitution for a balanced and varied diet and healthy lifestyle.
Dosage
For falling asleep:
Adults: 1 tablet in the evenings close to bed-time.
For alleviation of feelings of jet lag:
Adults: minimum of 0,5 tablet in the evenings close to bed-time on the first day of travel and on the following few days after arrival at the destination.
The dose should be taken at the same time in the evenings because the effects of melatonin are achieved with precise timing.
The supplement is not for pregnant and lactating women and children.
Composition
Daily dose 0,5–1 tablet contains
melatonin 0,5–1 mg
Ingredients
Bulking agents (cellulose, calcium phosphate), starch, emulsifier (magnesium salts of fatty acids), anticaking agent (silicon dioxide), melatonin.
Pack size
20 and 50 tablets.
Made in Finland
