Night Shifts, Insomnia, and Melatonin: The Link

Melatonin is well known for it's sleep enhancing effects, however, its is not just a sleep hormone.  Melatonin plays a major role in the integrity of the neuroendocrine and immune systems and has an effect on cancer risk when it is consistenly low for a long time.  Cancer?? Really??  Yes, unfortunately!

Melatonin levels begin to drop after the age of 15.   By the time we reach the age of 60, we have only about 1/10th of the amount of our youthful levels of Melatonin. If we add the decline in hormones to the mix then we see people with extreme fatigue, irritability, anxiety, and sometimes depression.  The real concern with low melatonin production though is it's link to cancer. 

Melatonin has anti-cancer effects because it upregulates tumor suppressor genes and reduces the concentration of certain tumor cells.  In my Anti-Aging textbooks, I was so enlightened by a study that clearly revealed a correlation to "night shift work" amongst a group of nurses and their increased incidence of cancer.  The connection was directly related to the low amount of melatonin production because of their altered sleep-wake cycle and working under artifical lighting all night long.  There's more information to support this and here's another interesting piece of information on this note.  Blind women have higher levels of melatonin and a significantly lower rate of breast cancer than non-blind women.  It clearly has to do with darkness and the secretion of melatonin in the brain once the lights go out.  Conversely, night shift workers such as nurses, radio-telephone operators, and flight attendants tend to have lower melatonin levels and higher rates of breast cancer.  Some studies are now appearing showing that the addition of melatonin to conventional treatments of cancer result in superior results. Remember, melatonin has an impact on cancer cells.

Not sleeping?  Working strange hours?  How do you know if my melatonin production is a problem for you?

I now provide testing kits (saliva) that can assess your melatonin level.  It's convenient and affordable and worth checking out if you are struggling with insomnia, anxiety, or fatigue.  As you see, the impact of letting the problem go can be pretty dangerous to your health.  Please call me for more information and a personal consultation about your needs.

To your good health,
Dr. Sonja